.S*^ 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


BL  263  .M27  1888 
McCosh,  James,  1811-1894. 
The  religious  aspect  of 
Evolution 

Cap.  ^ 


THE    BEDELL    LECTURES 


BEDELL    LECTURES    on    the   Evidences 
of  Religion. 

I.  The  World's  Testimony  to  Jesus  Christ  ; 
or,  The  Power  of  Christianity  in  Developing 
Modern  Civilization.  By  the  Rt.  Rev.  John 
Williams,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Connecticut.  8vo,  cloth 
extra         .......         $1.00 

"Contains  more  than  can  often  he  found  in  ten 
times  the  space  .  .  .  An  historical  argument, 
so  clear  and  so  powerful  that  nothing  beyond  the 
stating  of  it  is  needed." — The  Churchman. 

"The  argument  is  massive  and  simple." — Stand- 
ard of  the  Cross. 

II.  Revealed  Religion  Expounded  by  its 
Relations  to  the  Moral  Being  of  God.  By 
the  Rt.  Rev.  Henry  Cotterill,  D.D.,  Bishop  of 
Edinburgh.      Svo,  cloth  extra  .  .  .  $1.00 

"Dr.  Cotterill  is  a  profound  theologian,  a  ripe 
scholar,  and  an  eminent  preacher.  His  lecture  con- 
denses the  highest  results  of  ancient  and  modern 
thought  on  the  subject,  and  is  the  best  argument 
possible  against  the  spirit  of  unbelief  which  is  so 
rapidly  spreading  over  the  Christian  world." — Com- 
mercial Advertiser. 

III.  The  World  and  the  Logos.  By  the  Rt. 
Rev.  Hugh  Miller  Thompson,  D.D.,  Asst.    Bishop 

of  Mississippi.     Svo,  cloth        .  .  .  $1.00 

"As  a  superb  piece  of  dialectic,  as  a  capital  ex- 
ample of  good  fighting,  this  little  book  will  be  a 
real  enjoyment." — The  Churchman. 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  Polishers,  New  York. 


THE  BEDELL  LECTURES,  1SS7 
THE 

Religious  Aspect 


EVOLUTION 


JAMES  "McCOSH,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Litt.D. 

PRESIDENT  OF   PRINCETON   COLLEGE 

Author  of  "  Method  of  Divine  Government  "  ;   "  Intuitions  of  the  Mind  ' 

"  Realistic  Philosophy"  ;  "  Psychology— the  Cognitive  Powers  " 

"  Psychology — the  Motive  Powers,"  etc. 


NEW    YORK    AND   LONDON 

G.    P.    PUTNAM'S    SONS 

®h«  guiickerbocW  ||ress 

1888 


COPYRIGHT  BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Press  of 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York 


EXTRACTS 

From  the  communieation  of  the  donors  to  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Theological  Semi- 
nary of  the  Diocese  of  Ohio  and  Kenyon  Col- 
lege. 

Cleveland,  June  21,  1880. 
Gentlemen: 

We  have  consecrated  and  set  apart  for  the  service 
of  God  the  sum  of  $5,000,  to  be  devoted  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  lecture  or  lectures  in  the  Institutions 
at  Gambier  on  the  Evidences  of  Natural  and  Re- 
vealed Religion;  or  the  Relations  of  Science  and 
Religion. 

We  ask  permission  of  the  Trustees  to  establish  the 
lecture  immediately,  with  the  following  provisions: 

The  lecture  or  lectures  shall  be  delivered  bien- 
nially on  Founders'  Day  (if  such  a  day  shall  be 
established),  or  other  appropriate  time.  During  our 
lifetime,  or  the  lifetime  of  either  of  us,  the  nomination 
of  the  lectureship  shall  rest  with  us. 

The  interest  for  two  years  on  the  fund,  less  the  sum 
necessary  to  pay  for  the  publication,  shall  be  paid  to 
the  Lecturer. 

The  Lecturer  shall  also  have  one  half  of  the  net 
profits  of  the  publication  during  the  first  two  years 
after  the  date  of  publication.     All  other  profits  shall 


VI  EXTRACTS. 

be  the  property  of  the  Board,  and  shall  be  added  to 
the  capital  of  the  lectureship. 

We  express  our  preference  that  the  lecture  or 
lectures  shall  be  delivered  in  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  if  such  building  be  in  existence;  and  shall 
be  delivered  in  the  presence  of  all  the  members  of 
the  Institutions  under  the  authority  of  the  Board. 

We  ask  that  the  day  on  which  the  lecture  or  the 
first  of  each  series  of  lectures  shall  be  delivered,  shall 
be  declared  a  holiday. 

We  wish  that  the  nomination  to  this  lectureship 
shall  be  restricted  by  no  other  consideration  than  the 
ability  of  the  appointee  to  discharge  the  duty  to  the 
highest  glory  of  God  in  the  completest  presentation 
of  the  subject.  We  desire  that  the  lectures  shall  be 
published  in  uniform  shape,  and  that  a  copy  of  each 
shall  be  placed  in  the  libraries  of  Bexley  Hall,  Ken- 
yon  College  and  of  the  Philomethesian  and  the  Nu 
Pi  Kappa  Society.  Asking  the  favorable  consider- 
ation of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 

We  remain  with  great  respect, 

G.  T.  Bedell, 
Julia  Bedell. 

The  Board  accepted  the  gift,  approved  the 
terms,  named  All  Saints'  Day,  November  the 
first,  as  Founders'  Day,  and  made  it  a  holi- 
day. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I. — The  State  of  the  Question      .      .      .     i 

II. — The  Organic  History 28 

III. — Powers  Modifying  Evolution  .      .      .47 
IV. — Beneficence  in  the  Method  of  Evo- 
lution   58 

V. — Geology  and  Scripture      .      .      .      .69 
VI.— The  Age  of  Man 77 


PREFACE. 


In  my  first  published  work,  "  The  Method 
of  Divine  Government,"  I  sought  to  unfold  the 
plan  by  which  God  governs  the  world,  and  I 
found  it  to  be  in  an  orderly  manner — that  is, 
by  law.  As  having  pursued  this  line  of  re- 
search, I  was  prepared  to  believe  that  there 
might  be  the  like  method  in  the  organic  king- 
doms, and  to  listen  to  Darwin  when  he  showed 
that  there  was  a  regular  instrumentality  in  the 
descent  of  plants  and  animals.  I  noticed  that 
he  and  others,  such  as  Lewes,  Huxley,  and 
Spencer,  who  took  the  same  view,  were  not 
swayed  by  any  religious  considerations,  and 
that  religious  people  generally  were  strongly 
prepossessed  against  the  new  doctrine.  But  I 
saw,  at  the  same  time,  that  Darwin  was  a  most 
careful  observer,  that  he  published  many  im- 
portant facts,  that  there  was  great  truth  in  the 
theory,  and  that  there  was  nothing  atheistic  in 
it  if  properly  understood — that  is,  in  the  ac- 


X  PREFACE. 

knowledged  tenet  of  the  government  of  or- 
ganic nature  by  means  and  according  to  law. 
I  felt  it  to  be  my  only  course  not  to  reject 
It  the  truth  because  it  was  proclaimed  by  some 
who  turned  it  to  an  irreligious  use,  but  to  ac- 
cept it  wherever  it  might  lead,  and  to  turn  it 
to  a  better  use.  I  let  it  be  known  that  while 
I  thought  there  was  truth,  I  believed  there 
was  error  in  the  common  expositions  of  evo- 
lution, and  that  the  work  of  the  coming  age 
must  be  to  separate  the  truth  from  the  error, 
when  it  would  be  found,  I  was  sure,  that  this, 
like  every  other  part  of  God's  work,  would 
illustrate  his  existence  and  his  wisdom. 

When  I  was  called  from  the  Old  World  to 
the  office  which  I  now  hold  as  president  of  an 
important  college,  I  had  to  consider — I  re- 
member seriously  pondering  the  question  in 
the  vessel  which  brought  me  to  this  country — 
whether  I  should  at  once  avow  my  convictions 
or  keep  them  in  abeyance  because  of  the  preju- 
dices of  religious  men,  and  lest  I  might  un- 
settle the  faith  of  the  students  committed  to 
my  care.  I  decided  to  pursue  the  open  and 
honest  course,  as  being  sure  that  it  would  be  the 
best  in  the  end.  I  was  not  a  week  in  Prince- 
ton till  I  let  it  be  known  to  the  upper  classes 


PREFACE.  XI 


of  the  college  that  I  was  in  favor  of  evolution 
properly  limited  and  explained  ;  and  I  have 
proclaimed  my  views  in  lectures  and  papers  in 
a  number  of  cities  and  before  various  associa- 
tions, literary  and  religious.  I  have  been 
o-ratified  to  find  that  none  of  the  churches  has 
assailed  me,  and  this  has  convinced  me  that 
their  doubts  about  evolution  have  proceeded 
mainly  from  the  bad  use  to  which  the  doctrine 
has  been  turned.  I  am  pleased  to  discover 
that  intelligent  Christians  are  coming  round 
gradually  to  the  views  which  I  have  had  the 
courage  to  publish. 

I  have  all  along  had  a  sensitive  apprehension 
that  the  undiscriminating  denunciation  of  evo- 
lution from  so  many  pulpits,  periodicals,  and 
seminaries  might  drive  some  of  our  thought- 
ful young  men  to  infidelity,  as  they  clearly 
saw  development  everywhere  in  nature,  and 
were  at  the  same  time  told  by  their  advisers 
that  they  could  not  believe  in  evolution  and 
yet  be  Christians.  I  am  gratified  beyond 
measure  to  find  that  I  am  thanked  by  my 
pupils,  some  of  whom  have  reached  the  high- 
est position  as  naturalists,  because  in  showing 
them  evolution  in  the  works  of  God,  I  showed 
them  that  this  was  not  inconsistent  with  reli- 


xii  PREFACE. 

gion,  and  thus  enabled  them  to  follow  science 
and  yet  retain  their  faith  in  the  Bible.1 

1  As  I  am  a  mere  amateur  naturalist  (at  one  time  a  very  enthusi- 
astic one)  I  have  laid  these  papers  before  my  former  pupils,  now  emi- 
nent naturalists,  Dr.  Macloskie,  Professor  of  Natural  History,  and 
Dr.  Scott,  Professor  of  Geology,  in  Princeton  College,  and  accepted 
their  corrections.  I  have  made  use  of  the  able  works  of  Dana, 
LeConte,  and  Geikie  on  geology  ;  also  of  Dawson's  "  Story  of  the 
Earth  and  Man,"  of  Cope's  "  Origin  of  the  Fittest,"  and  especially  of 
Conn's  excellent  work,  "  Evolution  of  To-Day." 


CHAPTER  I. 

'  THE    STATE    OF    THE    QUESTION. 
I. 

Evolution  and  Causation. — Evolution, 
the  drawing  of  one  thing  out  of  another,  is 
deep  in  nature.  It  proceeds  from  causation, 
which  is  universal.  In  the  world  things  are  so 
connected  that  every  one  thing  proceeds  from 
some  other,  and  all  things  from  God.  This 
arises  from  the  universal  action  of  causation. 
A  cause  (in  physical  nature)  develops  into  an 
effect,  and  an  effect  is  an  evolution  from  a 
cause.  The  All-Mighty  God,  in  all  his  works, 
might  have  acted  immediately — that  is,  with- 
out any  creature  instrumentality.  He  might 
have  produced  crops  and  cattle,  heaved  up 
mountains  and  lowered  plains,  determined 
birth  and  death  without  the  use  of  means  of 
any  kind.  But  in  this  case  I  do  not  see  how 
mankind,  with  their  present  faculties,  could 
have  anticipated  any  of  these  occurrences,  as 
it  is  only  by  the  preparations  for  them  that  we 


2  THE   STATE   OF  THE   QUESTION. 

know  that  they  are  coming.  God  has  been 
pleased  to  arrange  instead  that  every  physical 
event  has  a  physical  cause, — the  only  exception 
being  the  miracles  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, which  serve  their  purpose  because  they 
are  exceptions.  Causation  is  universal  in 
physical  nature,  and  causation  develops  all 
we  see,  or,  to  express  it  otherwise,  all  that  we 
see  is  evolved  from  causes.  We  shall  see  that 
the  evolution  of  plants  and  animals  is  pro- 
duced by  organized  causes. 

II. 
Nature  of  Causation. — I  do  not  mean  to 
enter  into  the  deep  discussions  on  this  subject. 
We  know  a  little  more  of  causation  in  these 
later  years.  All  natural  causation  is  produced 
by  two  or  more  bodies  acting  on  each  other, 
the  effect  being  that  both  are  changed.  A 
ball  in  motion  strikes  a  ball  at  rest ;  this  con- 
stitutes the  cause,  and  the  effect  is  that  the 
ball  in  motion  is  stayed,  and  the  ball  at  rest 
moves,  the  two  constituting  the  effect.  It 
has  to  be  added  that  heat  is  produced  by 
the  impact,  being  part  of  the  effect.  A 
stone  strikes  a  board  ;  this  is  the  cause,  and 
the  effect  is  the  stone  arrested  in  its  course 
and  the  board  broken.     Cold  air  blows  on  a 


THE   STATE   OF  THE   QUESTION.  3 

living  plant ;  this  is  the  cause,  and  the  effect 
is  the  temperature  of  the  air  insensibly 
affected  and  the  plant  killed.  Causes  always 
consist  of  two  or  more  agents  called  con- 
causes  ;  effects  consist  of  the  same  agents 
changed.  The  effects,  which  are  also  dual  or 
plural,  are  ready  with  other  agents  to  act  as 
causes.  Nature  thus  becomes  reticulated  and 
flexible.  The  evolution  of  living  beings  is  an 
organized  causation. 

III. 
Development  in  Nature.  — Suppose  that 
nature,  as  created  by  God  at  the  beginning, 
consists  of  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  agents. 
These  act  upon  each  other  according  to  their 
properties,  and  new  products  are  ever  appear- 
ing. There  can  be  no  impropriety  in  saying 
that  they  are  evolved  from  their  antecedents, 
which  have  the  power  of  developing  them.  A 
complex  effect  is  the  evolution  of  a  complexity 
of  causes — say  the  downfall  of  the  Roman 
empire,  or  the  Renaissance  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  Such  is  God's  method  of  distribu- 
ting causes  throughout  the  cosmos.  It  is  our 
business  not  to  rebel  against  the  plan,  but  to 
fall  in  with  it  and  profit  by  it.  We  can  so  far 
see  its  beneficial  tendency.     Looking  to  the 


4  THE   STATE   OF  THE   QUESTION. 

causes  operating,  we  can  from  the  present  so 
far  find  out  the  past  and  forecast  the  future. 
We  can  take  advantage  of  these  causes  and 
combinations  of  causes  to  develop  the  results, 
general  and  special,  which  we  wish  to  accom- 
plish. Limited  though  our  view  be,  we  can 
see  that  the  method  is  worthy  of  God,  and 
suited  to  the  intelligence  of  man.  We  sow  in 
spring  because  we  know  that  the  seed  will 
produce  fruit  in  harvest. 

We  are  all  familiar  with  organic  develop- 
ment, though  we  may  not  have  been  giving  it 
this  formidable  name.  We  are  privileged  to 
be  descended  from  parents.  Of  mature  age,  I 
know  that  I  am  developed  from  the  boy  of  six 
as  I  remember  him  going  to  school.  Our 
horses,  our  cattle,  and  dogs  are  of  a  breed 
which  can  be  determined.  The  bread  we  eat 
sprang  from  seed.  We  do  not  complain  of 
these  evolutions  ;  we  do  not  denounce  them 
as  atheistic.  We  are  grateful  for  some  of 
them  ;  as,  for  example,  that  we  have  been 
nursed  by  a  mother's  love  and  watched  over 
by  a  father's  care.  The  new  evolutions  of 
plants  and  animal  races  which  we  are  now 
called  to  consider,  may  only  be  a  farther  evo- 
lution of  the  old  ones.     Possibly  the  one  set 


THE    STATE   OF  THE    QUESTION.  5 

may  be  no  more  atheistic  than  the  others. 
Both  may  be  illustrations  of  Divine  method, 
of  which  we  can  so  far  see  the  wisdom. 

IV. 

The  Question  between  Evolutionists 
and  Non-Evolutionists. — "  No  man  can  find 
out  the  work  that  God  maketh  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end."  But  though  human  science 
cannot  go  back  to  the  beginning  nor  go  on  to 
the  end,  and  while  there  is  much  in  the  middle 
that  is  concealed,  there  are  whole  provinces 
which  we  can  inquire  into  and  come  to  know. 
"We  know  in  part."  We  now  know  not  a 
little  about  the  generation  of  our  earth,  and  of 
the  plants  and  animals  upon  its  surface.  And 
we  can  tell  much  about  the  order  in  which 
animated  beings  appeared.  But  there  is  a 
keen  dispute  as  to  how  they  were  produced. 

All  admit  that  there  is  system  in  the  produc- 
tion of  the  organic  world.  Those  who  have  no 
faith  in  a  power  above  nature,  ascribe  it  to 
physical  forces.  Religious  people,  so  far  from 
denying  this,  should  at  once  admit  and  pro- 
claim it ;  and  seek  to  find  out  what  the  forces 
are  and  the  laws  they  follow.  We  cannot^ 
allow  God  to  be  separated  from  his  works,  and  ; 
so  we  must  resolutely  hold  that  God  is  in  the  ^ 


6  THE    STATE    OF  THE  QUESTION. 

forces   arranged  into  an  order — that  is,  laws, 
which  we  find  it  so  interesting  to  observe. 

But  this  is  not  just  the  burning  question  of 
the  day.  There  is  a  perplexing  confusion  in 
the  statement  of  the  question.  It  has  been 
misunderstood  by  religious,  it  has  been  per- 
verted by  irreligious,  people.  The  former 
often  speak  of  it  as  being :  Whether  all  things 
'are  to  be  ascribed  to  God,  or  a  portion  to 
God,  while  the  rest  is  handed  over  to  material 
agency?  In  maintaining  this  latter  view  they 
furnish  an  excuse  or  pretext  to  those  who 
would  ascribe  the  descent  of  plants  and  ani- 
mals to  mechanical  agency.  The  great  body 
of  naturalists,  all  younger  than  forty,  certainly 
all  younger  than  thirty,  are  sure  that  they  see 
evolution  in  nature  ;  but  they  are  assured  by 
their  teachers  or  the  religious  press  that,  if 
evolution  does  every  thing,  there  is  nothing 
left  for  God  to  do,  and  they  see  no  proof  of 
his  existence.  Many  a  youth  is  brought  to  a 
crisis  in  his  belief  and  life  by  such  a  represen- 
tation. He  feels  that  he  must  give  up  either 
his  science  or  his  faith,  and  his  head  is  dis- 
tracted, and  his  heart  is  tortured  till  feelings 
more  bitter  than  tears  are  wrung  from  it. 

The   question   is    said    to  be,   Whether  the 


THE   STATE   OF  THE  QUESTION.  J 

origin  of  species  and  descent  of  living  creatures  ' 
are  by  supernatural  power  or  natural  law,  by 
Creator  or  creative  action,   by  design   or  by 
mechanism,   by  contrivance  or  by  chance,  by 
purpose  or  without  purpose. 

Mr.  Darwin,  followed  by  Dr.  Romanes,  and 
many  others,    is  constantly   drawing   the   dis- 
tinction in  this  form :  between  "  natural  selec- 
tion "     and    "  supernatural    design,"   between 
"natural  law"  and  "special  creation."     Now 
the  difference  between  the  two  opposing  theo- 
ries as  thus  put  is  misleading,  and  this  whether 
put  by  disbelief  or  by  belief.    The  supernatural/ 
power  is  to  be  recognized  in  the  natural  law./ 
The  Creator's  power  is  executed  by  creature 
action.     The  design  is  seen  in  the  mechanism. 
Chance  is  obliged  to  vanish    because  we  see 
contrivance.     There  is  purpose  when  we  see 
a  beneficent  end  accomplished.     Supernatural^ 
design    produces    natural    selection.       Special/ 
creation  is  included  in  universal  creation. 

A  question  is  often  settled  by  being  properly 
stated.  The  status  qucestionis,  as  the  scholas- 
tics expressed  it,  is  here  not  between  God  and 
not-God,  but  between  God  working  without/ 
means  and  by  means,  the  means  being  created/ 
by  God  and  working  for  him.       There  may  be 


8  THE   STATE    OF  THE  QUESTION. 

evidence  of  design,  of  contrivance,  and  purpose 
in  the  very  means  employed.  If  an  optician 
brings  me  a  microscope  I  have  only  to  examine 
it  to  discover  design  in  it,  but  I  may  have  as 
clear  proof  of  purpose  when  I  visit  his  shop 
and  see  him  manufacturing  the  instrument. 
There  is  nothing  atheistic  in  the  creed  that 
God  proceeds  by  instruments,  which  we  may 
find  to  be  for  the  good  of  his  creatures.  There 
may  be  a  want  of  reverence  toward  God  and 
truth  when  there  is  evidence  laid  before  us  in 
its  favor  and  we  refuse  to  look  at  it.  I  should 
discover  God  in  the  human  frame,  on  the  sup- 
position that  he  created  it  at  once,  but  I  have 
quite  as  satisfactory  evidence  on  the  supposi- 
tion that  he  produced  it  by  a  father  and  mother, 
and  provided  that  it  should  grow  to  maturity 
by  a  natural  process.  In  the  geological  de- 
velopment I  am  privileged  as  it  were  to  enter 
God's  workshop  and  see  his  modes  of  opera- 
tion, and  the  result  reached  so  full  of  provisions 
in  bones,  muscles,  joints,  for  the  good  of  the 
creature. 

V. 

Tendency  of  a  Set  of  Causes  to  Differ- 
entiate and  Integrate.— Our  cosmic  system 
consists  of  a  number  of  elements,  supposed  at 


THE    STATE    OF  THE  QUESTION.  9 

present  to  be  seventy,  and  of  the  properties 
possessed  by  them,  such  as  gravitating,  me- 
chanical, and  chemical  power  ;  these  with  an 
order  or  collocation  imposed  on  them  by  God 
at  the  beginning.  As  they  begin  to  act,  which 
they  do  by  their  very  nature  as  imparted  to 
them  by  God,  they  differentiate.  Things  con- 
joined separate,  complexities  being  dissolved 
by  some  of  the  composites  having  greater  affin- 
ities to  other  things.  There  commence  at  the 
same  time  integrations  ;  and  new  combina- 
tions are  formed  by  gravitation,  by  chemical 
affinity,  and  other  powers.  These  two  pro- 
cesses are  continually  going  on.  At  last,  how- 
ever, many  integrations  become  fixed,  so  that 
they  never  change.  Some  have  supposed  that 
carbon  is  not  an  element,  but  a  compound 
which  cannot  be  dissolved  in  ordinary  circum- 
stances. Thus  sea  and  land  are  distributed, 
mountains  and  rocks  are  formed,  lakes  and 
rivers  are  spread  out.  If  organisms  are  ruled, 
as  they  undoubtedly  are,  by  the  law  of  cause 
and  effect,  there  must  be  a  like  variation  and 
conservation  in  their  actions. 

VI. 
Uniformity  with  Variations  in    Organ- 
isms.— Plants  and   animals  are   the  result  of 


IO  THE    STATE   OF  THE  QUESTION. 

combinations,  being  composed  of  oxygen,  hy- 
drogen, carbon,  and  nitrogen,  the  elements 
which  form  the  most  stable  combinations,  with 
a  few  others  not  so  universally  present.  These 
are  made,  always  by  the  power  of  God,  to  dif- 
ferentiate and  combine  into  divisions,  which 
are  appropriately  called  Kinds.  There  are 
classes  which  are  entitled  to  be  called  Natural; 
such,  for  example,  is  the  division  into  fishes, 
amphibians,  reptiles,  birds,  and  mammals.  The 
resemblance  in  the  objects  in  the  Kind  is  pro- 
duced by  their  being  of  the  same  composition, 
but  mainly  from  their  being  descended  from  a 
seed  or  eerm  which  is  a  concentrated  combina- 
tion  of  powers.  While  there  is  a  sameness 
there  is  also  a  variation.  This  may  be  pro- 
duced by  the  mutual  action  of  the  elements 
within  the  organism  itself.  It  is  thus,  for  ex- 
ample, that  old  age  and  death  are  brought 
upon  living  beings.  But  the  most  conspicuous 
agent  is  what  is  called  Environment.  Every 
object  has  surroundings  which  act  upon  it.  A 
fertile  soil  makes  a  plant  grow  and  expand, 
while  a  barren  soil  dwarfs  it. 

VII. 
Classification  by  Ramification. — The  clas- 
sification of  organisms  is  not  now  made  as  it 


THE   STATE   OF  THE   QUESTION.  II 

used  to  be — by  concentric  circles  within  circles, 
genera  within  orders,  and  species  within  gen- 
era— but  rather  by  ramification,  with  trunk  and 
branches,  branchlets,  twigs,  and  leaves.  So  in 
the  vegetable  and  animal  systems  we  have  com- 
mon stock,  and  proceeding  from  it  sub-kingdoms, 

CLASSES,  FAMILIES,  ORDERS,  GENERA,  and  SPECIES. 

This  is  the  common  division  now  of  the  vegeta- 
ble and  animal  kingdoms.  It  shows  us  one  sys- 
tem with  means  to  produce  it.  Since  the  days 
of  Aristotle,  plants  and  animals  have  been  clas- 
sified according  to  type.  It  is  thus  that  the 
great  Cuvier  has  arranged  the  animal  king- 
dom. The  types  have  been  fondly  contem- 
plated and  admired  by  our  profounder  minds. 
They  have  been  identified  with  the  grand  Ideas 
which,  according  to  Plato,  have  been  in  or  be- 
fore the  Divine  mind  from  all  eternity.  Pious 
minds  in  modern  times  have  ascribed  them  to 
God,  whose  thoughts  are  embodied  in  them. 
On  the  other  hand  the  great  rival  of  Cuvier, 
St.  Hilaire,  ascribed  the  types  to  a  common 
descent,  and  used  language  which  sounded  as 
if  the  animal,  by  its  wishes,  could  add  to  its 
organs  ;  could  call  forth  fins  to  swim  with,  and 
wings  to  fly.  The  controversy  came  to  a  head 
in  1830,  when  Goethe  declared  that  it  was  of 


12  THE   STATE   OF  THE  QUESTION. 

more  importance  than  the  French  Revolution, 
which  was  at  that  time  ringing  in  the  ears  of 
Europe.  There  is  undoubtedly  a  difference 
between  the  two  views  ;  but  may  there  not  be 
a  reconciliation  ?  It  may  be  by  descent  that 
types  are  formed,  and  yet  all  be  done  by  a  plan 
in  the  Divine  wisdom  which  is  thus  manifested. 
The  two  great  Swiss-American  naturalists, 
Agassiz  and  Guyot,  delighted  to  perceive 
clearly  that  there  was  a  system  in  the  descent 
of  animals  which  they  were  sure  was  conceived 
in  the  Divine  mind,  but  doubted  whether  it 
could  have  been  produced  by  natural  law  or 
material  agency.  But  surely,  in  analogy  with 
the  Divine  procedure  in  all  other  parts  of  na- 
ture, we  may  discover  a  Divine  plan,  and  at 
the  same  time  a  creature  agency  to  carry  it 
out,  which  agency  makes  known  God's  plan  to 
us.  We  may  see  that  the  relations  which  con- 
stitute types  are  genetic,  and  as  we  perceive  in 
them  wisdom  and  beauty,  we  can  also  perceive 
that  they  are  instituted  by  God.  This  view 
gives  to  classes  a  connection  in  the  very  nature 
of  things,  and  makes  species  intelligible  to  hu- 
man intelligence,  which  thereby  rises  to  some 
comprehension  of  Divine  intelligence,  in  the 
image  of  which  human  intelligence  is  formed. 


THE   STATE    OF  THE  QUESTION.  1 3 

VIII. 

Continuance  and  Disappearance  of  Spe- 
cies.— In  some  cases  the  genera  and  species  of 
plants  and  animals  are  unchanged  for  thou- 
sands or  even  millions  of  years.  As  instances 
we  may  mention  the  Trilobites,  which  appear  in 
the  Cambrian  and  remain  till  the  Carbonifer- 
ous epoch,  when  they  disappear.  The  small 
bivalve  shell,  the  Lingula,  and  the  Nautilus 
can  be  traced  back  unchanged  to  the  earliest 
animal  ages.  So  can  some  of  the  earthworms 
which  have  been  busy  in  forming  a  soil  for  us. 
We  may  point  also  to  the  Ferns  which  present 
themselves  in  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  and  the 
Coal  Measures,  and  adorn  our  fields  and  up- 
lands at  this  day.  The  fossil  scorpions,  found 
in  Scotland  and  Gothland,  are  the  same  as 
those  of  our  day.  As  illustrations  of  a  differ- 
ent kind  of  the  same  continuance,  we  may  re- 
fer to  the  figures  of  negroes  on  the  monuments 
of  Egypt,  identical  with  the  forms  of  the  same 
race  at  the  present  day.  Mr.  Carruthers  tells 
us  that  the  leaves  of  grape  vines  found  in  the 
Egyptian  tombs  are  identical  with  those  of  our 
time.  We  may  also  mention  the  Chinese,  the 
same  in  the  color  of  their  skin,  their  language, 
tastes,  and  habits  since  they  first  appeared  in 


14  THE   STATE   OF  THE  QUESTION. 

history.  All  this  is  easily  accounted  for.  The 
animated  beings  have  lived  in  scenes  in  which 
they  have  not  been  disturbed  by  their  sur- 
roundings. 

In  other  cases  the  plants  and  animals  have 
undergone  a  series  of  changes.  We  may  illus- 
trate this  by  the  history  of  the  horse  tribe.  The 
earliest  form  is  found  in  the  Eocene  rocks, 
where  it  treads  the  often  soft  ground  with  five 
toes,  the  typical  number.  Next  it  appears 
with  three  toes  on  the  hind  foot,  and  four  per- 
fect serviceable  toes  on  the  fore  foot,  with  im- 
perfect splint  bones  in  the  fore  foot,  and  ap- 
parently a  dew-claw  on  the  hind  foot.  It  is 
then  about  the  size  of  a  fox.  Next  comes 
the  Orohippus,  with  the  dew-claw  dropped. 
Then  we  have  in  the  lower  Miocene  the  Me- 
sohippus,  in  which  the  fourth  toe  has  be- 
come a  splint.  Next  the  Miohippus,  with 
the  splint  nearly  gone,  and  the  middle  hoof 
larger.  The  animal  is  now  about  the  size 
of  a  sheep.  After  this  is  the  Protohippus  in 
the  upper  Miocene  and  lower  Pliocene,  now 
about  the  size  of  an  ass,  with  the  middle  toe 
larger  and  the  two  side  hoofs  shorter.  The 
animal  is  becoming  more  and  more  like  the 
modern  horse.     In  the  Pliocene  we  have  the 


THE   STATE   OF  THE  QUESTION.  1 5 

Equus,  almost  a  complete  horse,  with  the 
hoofs  reduced  to  one,  the  splints  of  the  two 
sides  remaining  to  attest  the  descent.  Finally, 
in  the  human  period,  the  Equus  Caballus,  our 
horse,  perhaps  the  most  elegant  and  useful  to 
man  of  all  animals,  with  the  hoofs  rounder  and 
the  second  bone  of  the  leg  more  rudimentary, 
and  the  splint  bones  shortened,  still  remaining. 
From  the  normal  number  of  five,  the  toes  have 
been  successively  dropped  according  to  a  regu- 
lar law — first,  the  thumb,  No.  i  ;  then  the  lit- 
tle finger,  No.  5  ;  then  the  index,  No.  2  ;  and, 
last,  the  ring-finger,  No.  4  ;  and  the  middle 
finger,  No.  3,  only  remains.1  This  is  an  appo- 
site example  of  the  way  in  which,  by  a  process, 
God  has  provided  the  horse  with  its  hard  hoof 
for  man,  who  to  make  it  harder  adds  a  shoe. 
I  hold  that  there  are  as  clear  proofs  of  design 
in  the  hoof  as  in  the  shoe  upon  it. 

IX. 
Causes  of  Variation. — The  main  cause  is 
the  tendency  of  complex  bodies  to  differentiate. 
See  p.  8.  But  there  are  special  agencies.  (1)  1 
may  mention  the  one  to  which  Darwin  has 
given  such  prominence.  It  is  that  of  "  Natu- 
ral Selection,"  not  a  very  happy  phrase,  as  it 

1  Le  Conte's  "  Elementary  Geology,"  page  509. 


1 6  THE  STATE   OF  THE  QUESTION. 

is  apt  to  leave  the  impression  that  there  is 
a  choice  on  the  part  of  nature,  whereas  it  is 
all  produced  by  the  arrangements  made  by  the 
Creator.  This  law  is  otherwise  called  the 
"  Survival  of  the  Fittest."  This  principle  is 
undoubtedly  operating  in  all  organic  nature, 
and  has  mighty  influences,  as,  for  instance,  in 
the  five  loose  toes  becoming  one  solid  hoof  in 
the  horse.  A  tree,  say  an  oak,  expands  in  an 
English  nobleman's  park,  where  it  has  a  rich 
soil  and  room  to  breathe  in,  and  is  dwarfed  or 
dies  in  a  cold  and  stormy  climate.  The  rose 
grows  into  greatest  fulness  and  becomes  the  La 
France  in  a  cultivated  garden.  The  principle 
of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  is  a  beneficent  pro- 
vision, as  it  preserves  the  strong  and  the  use- 
ful, while  the  weak  is  allowed  to  die  out  and 
leave  room  for  something  else  to  take  its  place 
in  the  exuberance  of  God's  works.  The  re- 
ligious man  should  not  object  to  it,  if  at  certain 
junctures  it  produces  a  newer  and  higher 
species  of  plant  or  animal  to  make  up,  it  maybe, 
for  the  disappearance  of  an  old  species,  say,  of 
a  mammal  instead  of  a  reptile. 

(2)  There  is  the  strength  produced  by  the 
exercise,  and  the  weakness  or  disappearance  by 
the  disuse,  of  an  organ.     It  is  for  physiologists 


THE   STATE   OF  THE  QUESTION.  1 7 

to  explain  this.  In  some  cases  they  can  do  so. 
The  use  of  an  organ  draws  more  blood, 
"wherein  is  the  life,"  to  it.  However  we  may 
account  for  it,  it  is  a  fact  with  which  we  are  all 
familiar,  that  the  use  of  an  organ  makes  it  more 
useful,  and  thus  leads  to  the  farther  use  of  it. 
The  fisherman's  chest  expands,  and  the  plough- 
man's limbs  become  stronger,  by  the  employ- 
ment which  they  give  them.  Useless  organs 
disappear  when  they  become  cumbersome,  as 
the  two  first  and  the  two  last  toes  have  done  in 
the  foot  of  a  horse. 

(3)  There  are  the  small  increments  and  dec- 
rements of  organisms  produced  by  the  action 
of  the  elements  and  internal  movements. 
These  may  continue  and  become  hereditary. 
Thus  a  member  may  be  cut  off,  or  an  augmen- 
tation made  to  it.  There  may  be  at  times  an 
extraordinary  birth,  which  to  a  limited  extent 
modifies  the  model  form.  By  such  retarda- 
tions and  accelerations,  as  they  have  been 
called,  cumulative  changes  are  produced,  which 
go  down  to  future  generations.  This  is  an 
agency  much  dwelt  on  by  Cope  and  Hyatt, 
and  it  is  undoubtedly  acting  everywhere  in 
nature,  and  helping  to  produce  the  great  num- 
ber of  variations  in  individuals,  and,  perhaps, 


1 8  THE    STATE    OF    THE  QUESTION. 

even   in  species  which  we   observe  clustering 
round  the  generic  type. 

These  modifications  are  produced  very  much 
by  the  environment  of  the  organism,  which  is 
always  liable  to  be  influenced  by  the  company 
which  it  keeps.  But  as  all  organisms  are  com- 
plex, that  is,  have  various  elements,  there  may 
be  changes  produced  by  the  interaction  of  in- 
ternal forces,  as,  for  example,  when  the  plant  or 
animal  grows,  or  when  it  decays.  It  is  certain 
that  by  these  influences,  and  it  may  be  by  oth- 
ers, known  or  unknown,  varieties  are  produced  ; 
some  think  even  new  species.  Religion  has 
nothing  to  say  against  this,  and  observation  has 
much  to  say  in  its  favor. 

X. 
Homologies  with  Adaptations. — ^The  two 
facts  which  show  design  are  order  and  adap- 
tation, general  order  and  special  adaptations.^ 
They  are  seen  in  human  workmanship,  where 
we  have  houses,  machines,  clocks,  watches, 
formed  on  a  plan,  but  the  parts  made  to  ac- 
complish special  ends.  They  are  seen  in  Divine 
workmanship,  where  we  have  common  forms, 
with  adjustments  to  a  purpose  ;  what  I  have 
called  Typical  Forms  and  Special  ends.  The 
common  causes  produce  the  general  order,  be- 


THE   STATE    OF  THE  QUESTION.  1 9 

ing  so  collocated  by  Him  who  instituted  them. 
As  they  act  they  produce  changes  which  by  the 
same  Divine  wisdom  accomplish  particular  ends. 
In  all  animate  nature  we  have  homologies — 
that  is,  common  forms  adapted  to  different  pur- 
poses. Thus  in  plants  we  have  the  petals,  sta- 
mens, and  pistils  of  the  flower,  all  after  the  leaf 
type,  according  to  the  discovery  of  Goethe.  I 
have  shown  that  the  tree,  its  branches,  and  its 
branchlets,  are  after  the  same  form — that  is  of 
a  leaf,  as  determined  by  its  ribs.  The  four 
typical  limbs  of  vertebrate  animals  become  fins 
in  fishes,  wings  in  birds,  feet  in  mammals,  and 
two  of  them  hands  in  man.  There  are  typical 
vertebrae  running  along  the  backbone,  but  dif- 
fering in  different  parts  of  the  column,  and  with 
special  appendages,  in  wings,  and  arms,  and 
other  useful  organs. 

There  are  also  homologies  in  invertebrate 
animals  not  so  determinate  and  often  difficult 
to  detect,  but  very  instructive  in  showing  apian 
in  the  formation  of  these  lower  creatures,  and 
some  of  them  pointing  on  to  the  vertebrate 
structure,  and  to  man  himself  :  as  when  the 
limbs  of  a  lobster  are  variously  developed  and 
used  as  jaws,  walking  and  running  organs,  as 
well  as  for  moving  the  gills,  and  supplying  them 


20  THE   STATE   OF  THE  QUESTION. 

with  a  stream  of  water.  It  has  been  found  that* 
all  the  vertebrates  and  all  the  invertebrates,  ex- 
cept the  Protozoa,  agree  together  in  their  early- 
development  from  an  egg  by  germ-layers,  from 
which  the  different  organs  of  the  adult  animals 
are  variously  produced. 

Of  the  two  factors  the  former — that  is,  the 
general  order — is  the  more  prominent  in  the 
types  of  the  older  naturalists  and  of  Cuvier, 
and  the  other,  that  of  specialty,  is  seen  in  the 
modifications  produced  by  the  environment, 
according  to  Lamarck,  St.  Hilaire,  and  Dar- 
win. The  two  are  illustrated  by  the  arrange- 
ment of  plants  by  Linnaeus,  one  of  the  great 
classifiers  of  nature,  under  a  binomial  division 
of  genera  and  species,  the  former  representing 
the  common  resemblance,  and  the  latter  the 
special  difference. 

Now,  the  doctrine  of  development  gives  us  a 
glimpse  of  the  way  in  which  the  organs  have 
been  formed  and  varied  to  accomplish  an  end 
necessary  to  the  existence  of  the  plant  and  ani- 
mal. It  shows  us,  too,  how  organs  disappear  at 
times,  leaving  only  a  rudimental  form,  as  evi- 
dence, like  tombstones,  of  their  once  having 
lived.  They  have  shrunk  because  no  longer 
used,  being  no  longer  of  use.     Thus  we  have 


THE    STATE  OF  THE  QUESTION.  21 

the  mammae,  in  male  animals,  the  sightless  eyes 
of  fishes  in  the  Adalberg  and  Kentucky  caves, 
and  the  rudimentary  teeth  in  the  young  of 
whales. 

I  venture  to  suggest  that  seeds  are  the  ho- 
mologues  of  the  whole  plant,  and  the  germ  of 
the  whole  animal,  being  concentrations  of  these 
ingredients,  and  the  product  varying  according 
to  the  ingredients  present.  Von  Baer  has  shown 
that  there  is  a  most  remarkable  parallelism  be- 
tween the  embryology  of  the  individual,  and  the 
past  history  of  the  race.  Animals  start  in  the 
womb  as  a  single  cell,  and  though  there  is  no 
doubt  a  difference,  the  embryo  of  man  cannot 
be  distineuished  from  that  of  a  worm.     But  as 

<z> 

the  human  embryo  grows  it  becomes  like  a  fish, 
a  reptile,  a  mammal,  and  finally  takes  the  hu- 
man form.  It  thus  passes  through  the  series 
of  the  ramified  classification  of  animals  given 
above,  the  kingdom,  sub-kingdom,  class,  order, 
family,  genus,  and  species.  "  On  the  hypothe- 
sis of  evolution  this  parallelism  has  a  meaning ; 
indicates  the  primordial  kinship  of  all  organ- 
isms and  that  progressive  differentiation  of  them 
which  the  hypothesis  alleges.  But  on  any  other 
theory  the  parallelism  is  meaningless."  z 

1  Conn's  "  Evolution  of  To-Day, "  p.  144. 


22  THE   STATE    OF  THE  QUESTION. 

XL 

Are  Species  Unchangeable  ? — It  is  acknowl- 
edged on  all  hands,  by  evolutionists  as  well  as 
anti-evolutionists,  that  all  plants  and  animals 
belong  to  a  natural  species.  This  distinction 
has  a  safe  place  in  the  economy  of  nature.  It 
accomplishes  most  important  ends.  It  keeps 
nature  from  running  into  inextricable  confu- 
sion. It  makes  organic  nature  comprehensible 
and  usable  by  human  intelligence. 

So  deep  is  the  distinction,  that  about  two 
centuries  ago  naturalists  laid  it  down  as  a 
maxim,  that  species  are  so  fixed  as  to  be  im- 
mutable— as  the  law  of  gravitation  is.  There 
are  people  who  ask  us,  with  a  look  of  absolute 
incredulity  and  scorn  :  Do  you  really  believe 
and  have  the  effrontery  to  maintain  that  by 
natural  law  the  lily  can  be  changed  into  a  rose 
and  a  sheep  into  a  goat  ?  The  fixity  of  species 
has  become  (it  was  not  so  in  ancient  times)  a 
religious  doctrine,  and  a  sacred  feeling  has 
gathered  around  it  which  it  is  dangerous  to 
disturb.  It  is  certain  that  species  are  so  fixed 
that  they  cannot  readily  be  changed.  It  is 
certain  that  God  has  so  arranged  natural  law 
that  combinations  have  been  formed  that  can- 
not be  dissevered  by  any  ordinary  law.  No 
one  believes  that  by  natural  selection  a  deer 


THE    STATE   OF  THE  QUESTION.  23 

can  be  turned  into  a  horse,  or  a  cow  into  an 
elephant.  It  is  allowed  that  species  are  not  so 
fixed  as  to  prevent  varieties.  These  often  dif- 
fer very  widely  from  the  original  stock  and 
from  one  another.  What  a  difference  exists 
in  the  pigeons,  in  their  forms  and  colors,  while 
they  have  all  sprung  from  the  rock  pigeon. 
What  a  diversity  in  the  roses,  which  have  all 
come  from  the  common  dog  rose.  The  breeds 
of  dogs  vary  in  size,  in  shape,  in  gentleness  or 
fierceness,  but  are  believed  to  be  descended 
from  some  wolf-like  creature.  There  are  said 
to  be  about  twelve  species  of  horse,  all  de- 
scended from  the  Eohippus,  and  he  from  an 
older  ungulate  who  lived  a  hundred  of  millions 
of  years  ago. 

It  is  often  urged  as  an  objection  to  the  the- 
ory of  evolution,  that  the  varieties  and  breeds 
of  domestic  animals  which  have  been  produced 
by  the  agency  of  man,  are  apt  when  allowed  to 
run  wild  to  return  to  the  original  type.  It  is 
not  difficult  to  explain  the  actual  facts  in  ac- 
cordance with  evolution  as  it  is  explained  in 
this  treatise.  In  the  progress  of  development 
animals  assume  a  fixed  structure  which  they 
naturally  retain  and  cannot  easily  be  changed. 
But  when  placed  in  new  surroundings  altera- 
tions may  be  produced.     These  will  continue 


24  THE   STATE  OF  THE  QUESTION. 

as  long  as  the  environment  continues  the  same  ; 
that  is,  as  long  as  the  animal  is  in  a  state  of 
domestication.  But  when  it  is  placed  back  in 
its  old  position,  its  old  nature  still  remaining  in 
it  will  bring  it  back  to  its  old  form.  Darwin 
mentions  the  case  of  domestic  rabbits  which 
were  carried  to  the  Isle  of  Porto  Santo,  near 
Madeira,  in  1618  or  1619,  a.d.,  and  became 
there  very  different  from  any  domestic  breed, 
as  well  as  from  the  original  species.  They  are 
much  smaller  than  the  European  rabbits. 
"  The  upper  fur  is  redder,  with  few  or  no  black 
hairs  ;  the  throat  and  belly  are  generally  pale 
gray  or  leaden  color  instead  of  pure  white." 
"  The  males  of  the  Porto  Santo  rabbits  refuse  to 
associate  or  breed  with  the  domestic  varieties." 
When  these  rabbits  were  brought  back  to  the 
London  Zoological  Garden,  they  began  to  as- 
sume the  appearance  of  the  English  wild  rab- 
bit ;  the  edging  of  the  ears  and  upper  surface 
of  the  tail  became  blackish-gray,  and  the  whole 
body  much  less  red.  "  Thus,  on  returning 
them  to  their  original  European  environment, 
the  characters  of  the  parent  wild  species,  which 
had  been  dormant  at  Porto  Santo,  began  to  re- 
assert themselves."  '  / 

1  Darwin  :     "  The  Variation  of  Plants  and  Animals  under  Domes- 
ication,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  141-144. 


THE   STATE   OF  THE  QUESTION.  25 

The  whole  tendency  of  nature  is  to  prevent 
the  mixture  of  species,  which  in  most  depart- 
ments is  impossible,  which  in  some  cases  is 
unnatural  and  restrained  by  the  sterility  of  the 
offspring,  and  can  never  occur  except  in  rare 
and  exceptional  cases.  All  the  while  it  is  not 
so  easy  to  determine  wherein  a  species  differs 
from  its  congeners,  and  as  to  certain  breeds, 
whether  they  are  varieties  or  different  species. 
A  species  is  not  constituted  by  mere  external 
agreement,  for  creatures  very  like  each  other 
may  belong  to  very  different  species  and  genera. 
The  only  decisive  point  which  can  now  be 
fixed  on  as  separating  species  is  the  infertility 
of  the  offspring  produced  by  crossing.  The 
offspring  of  different  species  when  they  pair 
are  supposed  to  be  unfertile.  But  it  is  urged 
by  our  advanced  naturalists  that  even  this 
mark  is  failing  the  anti-evolutionists.  It  is  af- 
firmed that  there  are  hybrids  which  breed  and 
continue  to  breed.  It  is  known  that  there  are 
different  domestic  races  which  cross  and  yet 
continue  fertile.  It  is  alleged  that  natural 
races  may  do  the  same,  and  that  in  rare  cases 
the  fertility  of  hybrids  seems  slightly  greater 
than  that  of  the  legitimate   young.1     It  does 

1  Conn's  "Evolution  of  To-Day,"  chap.  I. 


26  THE   STATE    OF  THE  QUESTION. 

not  appear  that  the  crossing  of  different 
species  of  plants  leads  to  sterility.  It  is  a 
question  for  science  to  settle  and  not  religion, 
which  does  not  seem  to  me  to  have  any  special 
interest  in  the  question,  though  it  is  gratified  to 
find  that  there  are  such  limits  to  the  crossing 
of  natural  kinds  as  to  prevent  breeds  from 
running  into  confusion. 

It  has  often  been  demanded  of  evolutionists 
that  they  present  before  our  eyes  a  case  of  one 
species  being  changed  into  another.  Evolu- 
tionists argue  that  this  is  unreasonable,  as  such 
transformations  can  take  place  only  by  slow- 
processes,  which  cannot  be  noticed  by  any 
observer.  This  answer  has  commonly  been 
regarded  as  sufficient.  But  now  it  is  said  that 
an  actual  transformation  has  been  observed. 
A  Russian  naturalist,  Schmankewitsch,  had 
noticed  that  a  species  of  Crustacea,  Artemia 
Milhausenii,  has  been  changed  by  the  gradual 
freshening  of  a  salt-water  lake  in  which  the 
creature  lived.  Acting  on  the  principle  in- 
volved, he  added  salt  to  the  water  till  he 
changed  the  species  into  another  (A.  Salina), 
which  again  he  transformed  into  a  third. 
Freshening  the  water,  it  was  turned  into  still 
another  creature  which  had  been  ranked  as  a 


THE    STATE    OF  THE  QUESTION  2J 

distinct  genus  by  naturalists.1  Let  this  case 
be  thoroughly  sifted  by  scientific  men,  who 
will  determine  for  us  whether  the  new  creatures 
produced  are  mere  varieties  or  really  new 
species  and  genera.  I  am  sure  meanwhile  that 
religion  is  safe  whatever  be  the  decision 
come  to. 

I  have  never  been  able  to  see  that  religion, 
and  in  particular  that  Scripture  in  which  our 
religion  is  embodied,  is  concerned  with  the 
question  of  the  absolute  immutability  of  species. 
Final  Cause,  which  is  a  doctrine  of  natural  re- 
ligion, should  be  satisfied  with  species  being 
so  fixed  as  to  secure  the  stability  of  nature.  If 
new  species  appear  in  our  world,  they  differ  so 
slightly  from  the  old,  out  of  which  they  have 
been  formed,  that  there  are  no  violent  or  revo- 
lutionary changes  involved.  Nature  is  kept 
steadfast  and  theism  is  satisfied,  even  though 
in  rare  circumstances  a  new  species  should  be 
produced  to  diversify  nature  and  make  it  equal 
to  the  duty  of  peopling  the  earth,  which  is  cer- 
tainly one  of  the  purposes  of  God  by  which  he 
widens  the  sphere  of  happiness. 

1  Conn's  "  Evolution  of  To-day,"  p.  26. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  ORGANIC  HISTORY. 
I. 

The  Formative  Period  of  the  Earth. — 
"  No  one  can  find  out  the  work  which  God 
doeth  from  the  beginning  unto  the  end." 
Science  does  not  know  what  was  the  beginning, 
nor  whether  there  has  been  a  beginning  in 
God's  doings  ;  nor  does  it  know  the  end,  for 
there  will  be  no  end.  But  we  know  that  our 
mundane  system,  especially  our  earth,  has  had 
a  beginning,  and  we  can  so  far  trace  its  history. 
According  to  the  well-known  theory  of  Kant 
and  Laplace,  started  by  each  independently  of 
the  other,  there  is  a  mass  of  matter  with  an 
impulse  given  to  it  rotating  from  west  to  east, 
and  throwing  off  the  earth  as  a  fiery  liquid,  to 
move  in  the  same  direction.  As  the  earth  ro- 
tates it  is  formed  into  an  oblate  spheroid.  As 
it  cools  it  has  a  solid  crust  with  thick,  gaseous 
substances  surrounding  it,  which,  in  the  process 
of  time,  are  condensed  into  water.     As  it  then 

28 


THE    ORGANIC  HISTORY.  29 

presents  itself,  it  is  composed  of  seventy  ele- 
ments, less  or  more,  and  in  it  are  mechanical, 
chemical,  gravitating  forces,  probably  also 
magnetic  and  electric — whatever  these  may 
be.1  As  they  operate,  divisions  and  combina- 
tions take  place — what  are  called  differentiations 
and  concentrations.  The  atmosphere  is  sepa- 
rated from  the  land,  and,  as  the  oscillations  of 
the  crackling  earth  go  on,  portions  of  land  rise 
above  the  waters.  "  Mountain  chains,"  says 
Le  Conte,  "  seem  to  be  produced  by  the  secu- 
lar cooling,  and,  therefore,  contraction  of  the 
earth,  greater  in  the  interior  than  the  exterior, 
in  consequence  of  which  the  face  of  the  old 
earth  is  become  wrinkled."  As  yet  there  is  no 
sun  ;  which,  in  fact,  is  being  condensed  out  of 
the  nebular  mass,  but  light  and  heat  are  gener- 
ated, ready  to  nourish  the  tiny  plants  which 
are  ready  to  spring  up  on  the  rocks  lying  under 
the  waters.  In  all  this  God  is  working,  not 
by  special  interferences,  but  by  the  natural 
causes  which  develop  into  effects — in  other 
words,  by  evolution.  So  far,  there  is  no  dif- 
ference of  opinion.     All  is  by  evolution. 

1  There  is  a  central  truth  in  Laplace's  theory,  but,  to  account  for 
the  whole  phenomena,  a  place  must  be  given  to  the  powers  referred 
to  above. 


30  THE    ORGANIC  HISTORY. 

II. 

The  Archaic  or  Eozoic  Age. — In  the  long 
formative  period  there  was  no  life  ;  indeed, 
there  could  have  been  none,  owing  to  the  in- 
tense heat.  Life  appears  first  in  the  Lauren- 
tian  rocks  which  stretch  through  Canada,  where 
they  are  40,000  feet  in  depth,  on  into  the 
United  States,  and  are  also  found  in  Scotland, 
and  bulk  largely  in  Bohemia.  These  are  not 
primary  rocks,  for  they  are  formed  of  matter 
carried  by  rivers  into  the  sea.  In  them  are 
found  the  Eozoon,  of  so  amorphous  a  character 
that  it  has  been  disputed  whether  it  is  an  ani- 
mal or  a  mere  mineral.  If  there  were  animals, 
there  must  also  have  been  plants,  vitalizing  min- 
erals, to  feed  them.  We  know  otherwise  that 
there  must  have  been  life,  from  the  graphite 
and  limestone  in  the  formation.  Life  has  ap- 
peared. How  ?  Certainly  from  the  God  who 
made  the  world.  Was  it  by  God's  immediate 
fiat,  or  by  evolution  ?  The  question  is  started  ; 
the  discussion  of  it  may  be  adjourned  till  we 
have  the  facts  fully  before  us.  Meanwhile  it  is 
certain  that  from  this  date  we  have  evolution — 
every  plant  and  every  animal  from  an  ancestry. 

III. 
The  Silurian,  the  Age  of  Invertebrates, 
Specially  of  Molluscs. — The  formation  lies 


THE   ORGANIC  HISTORY.  31 

unconformably    on    the    Laurentian,    showing 
long  deposits  and  numerous  upheavals.     It  is 
found  in  the  borders  of  Wales  and  in  the  State 
of  New  York,  and  in  many  other  places.    There 
is  now  an  abundance  of  plants,  mainly  marine, 
chiefly  algae,  or  sea-weeds.     Animals  are  also 
numerous,  such    as  sponges,    radiates,    corals, 
forming  reefs,  medusae,  jelly-fishes.     There  are 
fossils    of    beautiful    graptolites,   of    stemmed 
echinoderms  and   crinoids.       There  are  ceph- 
alopods,  the  most  highly  organized  and  most 
powerful  of  the  tribe  ;  they  are  represented  in 
the  present  day  by  the  nautilus,  the  squid,  and 
cuttle-fishes.      In  this  age  articulated  animals 
appear,  specially  soft   fleshy  worms,   not  pre- 
served themselves,  but  two  hundred  species  are 
made  known  by  their  tracks  and  borings,  so 
important  in  producing  soil.     In    the    Lower 
Silurian  there  is  no  evidence  of  terrestrial  or 
fresh-water  life.      In  the  Upper  Silurian  there 
are  remains  of  terrestrial  plants,  such  as  club- 
mosses.     I  am  pleased  to  observe  that  these 
are  branched  at  definite  angles,  like  the  trees 
which  come  at  a  late  date.     In  the  trilobites, 
which  now  reach  their  maximum  size,  well  con- 
structed eyes  are  visible   of  the  invertebrate 
type.     It  is  said  that  before  the  Silurian  age 
closes,  may  be  found  vertebrates  of  a  low  type. 


32  THE    ORGANIC  HISTORY. 

IV. 

The  Devonian  Age,  Which  may  be  Called 
the  Fish  Age. — Hitherto  the  plants  have  been 
chiefly  marine.  Now  land  plants  are  abun- 
dant ;  and  we  discover  many  that  are  still  with 
us,  ferns,  lycopods,  equisetae,  also  advanced 
conifers,  which  may  have  covered  some  parts 
of  the  earth  with  forests.  "  In  the  Hamilton 
beds  the  evidences  of  verdure  over  the  land  are 
abundant.  The  remains  show  that  there  were 
trees,  as  well  as  smaller  plants  ;  that  there  were 
forests  of  moderate  growth,  and  great  jungles 
over  wide-spread  marshes."  ' 

There  are  peat-bogs  and  submerged  forests, 
anticipations  of  the  coming  Coal  Measures. 
Insects  enliven  the  forests,  and  have  organs  to 
issue  sounds  which  probably  imply  ears  to 
hear  them.  The  fishes  which  first  came  are 
eanoids,  and  sharks,  some  of  them  three 
feet  thick  and  from  fifteen  to  eighteen  feet 
loner.  The  more  elegant  forms  of  teleosts, 
which  now  swim  in  our  seas  have  not  yet  ap- 
peared. "  The  most  fundamental  law  of  evo- 
lution," says  Le  Conte,  "where  is  differentia- 
tion," i.  e.y  a  separating  of  generalized  into  sev- 
eral   specialized    forms,    a   separation    of    one 

1  Dana's  "  Geology,"  p.  268. 


THE   ORGANIC  HISTORY.  33 

stem  into  several  branches.  The  Devonian 
fishes  are  an  admirable  illustration  of  this  law. 
The  first  introduced  fishes  were  not  typical 
fishes,  but  sauroids — i.  e.,  fishes,  which  com- 
bined with  their  distinctive  fish  characters  others 
which  allied  them  with  reptiles.  They  were  the 
representatives  and  progenitors  of  both  classes. 
From  this  common  stem  diverge  two  branches, 
viz.,  typical  fishes  on  the  one  hand,  and  reptiles 
on  the  other.  "  This  is  but  one  example  of  a 
very  general  law  which  may  be  formulated 
thus  :  The  first  introduced  of  any  class  or  or- 
der were  not  typical  representatives  of  that 
class  or  order,  but  connecting  links  with  other 
classes  or  orders,  the  complete  separation  of 
two  or  more  classes  or  orders  being  the  result 
of  subsequent  evolution."1 

V. 
The  Carboniferous  or  Great  Plant  and 
Coal  Age. — The  great  classes  and  orders  of 
plants  scatter,  and  are  more  firmly  organized 
than  in  any  other  age.  Between  2,000  and 
3,000  fossil  plants  have  been  found,  and  one 
fourth  of  them  are  of  this  formation.  The 
lower  forms  of  plant  life  continue,  but  rising 
above  them  are  the  ramified  forms  of  conifers, 

1  "Geology,"  p.  332. 


34  THE   ORGANIC  HISTORY. 

4 

lepidodendrons,  sigillariae,  and  calamites. 
These  sinking  in  a  warm,  moist,  stifling  clim- 
ate, and  in  stagnant  water,  become  hardened 
by  heat  and  pressure  into  coal.  It  is  the 
great  coal-bearing  era  with  its  sandstones, 
shales,  and  lime-stones,  and  with  metalliferous 
veins  running  through  them.  Without  the 
plant  deposits,  and  the  power  from  the  sun 
stored  up  in  them,  human  factories  and  man's 
working  capacity  would  have  been  greatly  lim- 
ited. There  are  Coal  Measures  with  a  thick- 
ness of  10,000  feet,  indicating  what  a  length 
of  time  this  age  must  have  lasted.  The  fishes 
become  reptilian  in  character,  and  amphibia 
make  their  appearance.  The  Palaeozoic  now 
passes  away,  and  a  new  era  appears. 

VI. 
The  Mesozoic  Age,  That  of  Reptiles. — 
It  is  divided  into  the  Triassic,  Jurassic,  and 
Cretaceous.  It  is  not  necessary  in  this  epitome 
to  give  a  separate  account  of  each  of  these. 
The  plants  are  still  making  coal  in  the  Jurassic 
period.  Vegetation  consists  mainly  of  such 
plants  as  ferns,  cycads,  and  conifers  ;  but  higher 
forms  uppear.  In  this  latter  age  the  highest 
forms  of  plants,  dicotyledons,  come  forth. 
Fossils  of  the  trees  with  which  we  are  familiar 


THE    ORGANIC  HISTORY.  35 

are  found,  such  as  oaks,  willows,  poplars,  sassi- 
fras,  dog-wood,  maple,  hickory,  beach,  walnut, 
sweet  gum,  laurel,  fig,  sequoia,  tulip. 

In  this  age  reptiles  reign  in  the  sea,  on  the 
land,  and  in  the  air,  some  of  them  crawling,  such 
as  saurians  and  crocodiles  ;  but  some  standing 
and  moving  on  their  hind  legs,  thereby  antici- 
pating birds  and  man  himself  ;  and  some  of 
them,  such  as  the  pterodactyls,  flying,  and 
warm-blooded  like  mammals.  In  the  Jurassic 
the  Atlantosaurus,  discovered  by  Marsh,  seems 
to  have  been  nearly  100  feet  in  length  and  30 
in  height.  To  show  how  the  forms  run  into 
each  other,  Dana  says  :  "  As  in  birds  the  bones 
of  pterodactyls  are  hollpw,  to  fit  them  for  fly- 
ing ;  but  unlike  birds  they  have  the  skin,  claws, 
and  teeth  of  reptiles.  Their  habits  were  those  of 
bats  rather  than  birds." x  Birds  come  forth 
fully  developed  in  this  age  ;  some  of  them  not 
capable  of  flight.  Birds  begin  in  long-tailed 
or  reptilian  species ;  six  species  have  been 
found  with  teeth.  Some  of  the  reptiles  have 
mammalian  characters,  especially  in  the  teeth. 
In  the  later  deposits  are  found  mammals  near- 
ly all  of  them  marsupials  and  insectivorous. 
The  character  of  the  age   is  summed  up  by 

1  Dana's  "  Geology,"  p.  446. 


36  THE   ORGANIC  HISTORY. 

Dana  :  "  It  is  the  era  of  the  first  mammals,  the 
first  birds,  the  first  of  the  common  or  osseous 
fishes,  and  the  first  palms  and  angiosperms."  ' 
The  disturbance  which  in  America  closed  the 
Mesozoic  period,  upheaved  half  the  continent. 

VII. 
The  Cenozoic  Age,  That  of  Mammals. — 
"  The  ages,"  says  Geikie,  "  of  lycopods,  ferns, 
cycads,  and  yew-like  conifers  have  passed  away, 
and  that  of  dicotyledons  and  angiosperms,  of 
the  hard-wood  trees  and  evergreens,  now  suc- 
ceeds ;  but  not  by  sudden  extinction  and  re- 
creation, for,  as  we  have  seen,  some  of  these 
trees  had  already  begun  to  make  their  appear- 
ance even  in  Cretaceous  times."  2  The  early 
animals  were  chiefly  herbivorous,  such  as 
the  Phenacodus,  Coryphodon,  and  Hyraco- 
therium.  The  age  of  reptiles  is  past,  and  mar- 
supials are  very  much  confined  to  Aus- 
tralia. In  the  fossils,  we  discover  the  remains 
of  such  animals  as  eagles,  owls,  and  wood- 
peckers ;  nearly  all  the  genera  and  many  of  the 
species  of  plants  and  also  of  invertebrates  are 
the  same  as  at  present.  This  age  closes  with  the 
great  Glacial  epoch,  in  which  a  great  portion 
of  the  earth  was  covered  with  ice  and  snow, 

1   "  Geology,"  p.  403  s  "  Geology,"  p.  837. 


THE   ORGANIC  HISTORY.  37 

believed  to  have  been  7,000  feet  thick  in  Nor- 
way, and  the  temperature  intensely  cold.  We 
see  traces  of  it  in  the  striated  rocks,  in  our 
mountains,  and  in  boulders  often  carried  to 
long-  distances.  The  great  ice  sheets  of 
Switzerland  and  Norway  are  remnants  of  it. 
The  cold  led  to  the  destruction  of  many  species 
of  plants  and  animals,  and  the  migrations  of 
others  toward  warmer  regions.  In  this  age 
placentals,  such  as  monkeys,  make  their  ap- 
pearance. 

VIII. 

The  Quaternary  Age,  That  of  the 
Largest  Mammals. — Plants  and  animals  have 
become  what  they  now  are.  Plants  identical 
with  species  living  all  over  Europe  retreat  to 
the  northern  regions  and  are  found  in  high 
altitudes.  In  South  America  animals  take  the 
form  of  sloths,  armadillos  and  llamas.  In  va- 
rious countries  mammals  take  a  gigantic  size, 
such  as  the  extinct  elks,  the  mammoth  and 
mastodon.  This  mammal  age  gives  way  to 
that  of  man — intelligent  and  responsible  man. 

IX. 

Inferences. — The  above  is  a  brief  and 
necessarily  imperfect  geological  history.  We 
perceive  that : 


38  THE   ORGANIC  HISTORY. 

i.  There  is  what  scientists  call  system, 
what  platonists  call  an  idea,  what  theologians 
call  design  or  purpose,  in  the  history  of  organic 
life.  It  is  produced  by  God,  but  the  question 
arises,  whether  without,  or  with,  creature  in- 
strumentality, and  the  further  question,  whether 
the  instrumentality,  if  there  be  such,  can  be 
discovered  by  human  research. 

2.  There  is  a  gradual  rise  ;  through  millions 
of  years,  or  rather  ages,  of  vegetable  and  ani- 
mal life.  The  question  is,  whether  this  can  be 
produced  by  evolution,  always  under  God.  It 
will  be  generally  admitted  that  the  formation 
of  the  mere  matter  of  the  earth,  its  seas,  moun- 
tains, and  rivers,  have  been  effected  by  natural 
causes.  May  it  not  be  the  same  with  the 
growth  of  the  organic  world,  it  being  always 
understood  that  the  causes  are  different  ? 

3.  It  is  admitted  that  the  individual  plant 
and  animal  are  generated  from  a  parent.  May 
it  not  be  the  same  with  the  vegetable  races — 
the  horse  we  ride  on,  from  an  older  and  diminu- 
tive horse,  birds  and  marsupials  from  certain 
forms  of  reptiles  ?  There  is  nothing  atheistic 
in  this  supposition. 

4.  We  have  convincing  evidence  of  the  de- 
scent of  races  from  older  races.     I  have  already 


THE   ORGANIC  HISTORY.  39 

given  the  details  as  to  the  horse.  We  have 
many  other  cases,  these  increasing  as  new 
regions  are  explored.  The  very  Eohippos 
seems  to  have  been  a  descent  from  the  ungu- 
lates. 

"  In  the  earliest  Tertiary  deposits  of  North 
America,"  says  Prof.  Scott  to  me,  "we 
find  a  series  of  five-toed  plantigrade  ani- 
mals from  which  all  the  hoofed  animals 
have  descended,  the  difference  between  the 
various  groups  having  been  continually  aug- 
mented with  the  process  of  time.  The  gene- 
alogy of  the  -tapir  and  rhinoceros  has  now  been 
completely  made  out,  running  back  to  a  com- 
mon ancestor  in  the  early  Tertiary  formations. 
Step  by  step  changes  in  the  character  of  the 
dentition,  and  of  all  parts  of  the  skeleton  have 
been  accumulated,  until  they  result  in  animals  of 
a  very  different  character.  In  the  same  manner 
the  passage  from  pig-like  animals  to  the  rumi- 
nants has  been  demonstrated,  and  the  recent 
discovery  of  a  five-toed  ruminant  proves  the 
origin  of  the  ruminating  animals  from  the 
primitive  common  ancestors  of  all  hoofed  ani- 
mals including  even  the  elephant. 

"  The  history  of  the  Camel  and  Llama  tribes 
is  also  very  well  understood  ;  with  very  small 


40  THE    ORGANIC  HISTORY. 

four-toed  animals  with  complete  series  of  teeth 
in  both  jaws  ;  then  passing  to  forms  in  which 
only  the  two  median,  the  third  and  fourth,  of 
the  original  series  are  preserved  ;  then  these 
two  fuse  into  a  single  cannon  bone,  some 
of  the  teeth  are  lost,  and  the  limbs  lengthen, 
the  animals  become  larger,  till  the  modern 
form  is  reached.  Rutimayer  has  proved 
the  Gradual  derivation  of  the  Ox  tribe  from 
antelope-like  animals,  these  from  deer-like 
forms,  and  these  again  from  the  primitive 
pig-like  types.  In  the  case  of  the  carnivora, 
we  have  clear  evidence  of  their  descent  from 
insectivorous  animals  ;  and  it  has  lately  been 
proved  that  all  of  the  land  carnivora  have  been 
derived  from  the  primitive  dog-like  animals  of 
the  Eocene  territory.  Transitional  types  be- 
tween these  animals  and  the  bear  series  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  cat  and  hyena  series  on  the 
other,  are  now  abundantly  known.  There  are 
many  groups,  it  need  hardly  be  said,  as  to 
which  our  information  is  still  very  incomplete, 
but  new  discoveries  are  continually  announced 
which  widen  the  horizon  for  us.  It  seems 
hardly  too  much  to  say  that  before  many  years 
the  genealogy  and  inter-relationships  of  all 
mammalian  groups  will  be  fairly  understood." 


THE   ORGANIC  HISTORY.  4 1 

5.  We  have  numerous  examples  of  transition 
cases.  Professor  Scott  says  :  "  The  earliest 
known  birds,  Archseopteryx,  from  the  Jurassic 
formation,  are  amazingly  close  to  reptiles  in 
structure.  They  possess  teeth  of  reptilian 
types,  without  a  beak,  in  the  modern  sense  of 
the  word  ;  the  structure  of  the  hand  was  unlike 
that  of  any  living  bird,  in  that  the  fingers  were 
all  free  (?'.  e.,  not  fused  into  one  mass),  and  all 
had  claws  ;  the  foot  can  hardly  be  distinguished 
from  that  of  some  reptiles ;  the  tail  was  like 
that  of  a  lizard,  but  with  a  pair  of  feathers  at- 
tached to  each  joint.  It  is  particularly  worthy 
of  note  that  these  peculiarities,  even  the  pos- 
session of  teeth,  are  reproduced  in  the  embryos 
of  modern  birds.  On  the  other  hand,  certain 
of  the  extinct  reptiles  approach  these  birds 
very  closely  in  all  points  of  structure,  so  that 
almost  the  only  mark  of  separation  between 
the  two  groups,  birds  and  reptiles,  is  the  pres- 
ence or  absence  of  feathers.  Thus  palaeon- 
tology and  embryology  agree  perfectly  in  the 
derivation  of  birds  from  reptiles."  "The  two 
pairs  of  fins  in  fishes  represent  the  two  pairs 
of  limbs  of  higher  species  ;  an  air-bladder,  the 
lungs ;  a  loose-bone  in  a  closed  cavity,  the  ear." r 

1  Dana's  "  Geology,"  p.  594. 


42  THE    ORGANIC  HISTORY. 

It  is  well  known  that  aquatic  animals  have 
become  suited  to  a  terrestrial  life.  The  air 
bladder  of  certain  fishes,  such  as  the  mud 
fishes  of  Africa,  came  to  possess  a  respiratory 
function,  and  developed  as  a  lung.  In  the  tad- 
pole we  see  the  gill,  but  it  is  superseded  by  the 
lung.  The  male  animal  has  mammae  ;  the  un- 
born whale  has  rudimentary  teeth  ;  in  the  pi- 
thon  there  are  rudiments  of  limbs.  The  whales 
and  porpoises  are  like  fish,  but  science  declares 
them  to  be  mammals. 

We  discover  cases  in  which  the  distinctions 
supposed  to  be  deepest  in  the  organic  king- 
doms are  effaced.  The  main  distinction  in 
plants  is  between  the  monocotyledons,  which 
have  parallel  veins,  and  the  dicotyledons,  which 
have  curved  veins  ;  yet  we  have  the  arum  and 
smilax,  which  are  monocotyledons,  and  yet 
have  reticulated  leaves.  Often  have  I  seen 
the  sun-dew  plant  sucking  in  insects  and  feed- 
ing on  them,  which  shows  that  the  difference 
between  plant  and  animal  is  capable  of  being 
bridged  over.1      But  perhaps  the  most  striking 

1  Often  on  the  Grampians  of  Scotland*  have  I  watched  the  beautiful 
sun-dew  plant  drawing  in  insects  and  dissolving  them.  Had  I  pub- 
lished this  when  I  first  noticed  it,  I  might  have  anticipated  Darwin 
in  his  discovery  of  flesh-eating  plants.  I  failed  to  do  this  and  lost 
my  chance  of  becoming  famous  !  !  1 


THE   ORGANIC  HISTORY.  43 

case  is  that  in  which  there  are  exceptions  to 
the  law,  which  was  supposed  to  be  fixed  and 
unchangeable,  that  all  mammals  bring  forth 
their  young  alive — that  is,  are  viviparous. 
These  curious  animals,  the  Duck-bill  and  the 
spiny  Ant-eater,  are  truly  mammals,  yet  the 
eggs  laid  by  them  have  been  found  within  the 
last  few  years  in  Australia  by  Caldwell  and 
Haacke,  showing  that  they  are  oviparous.  All 
this  does  not  prove  that  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  Natural  Kinds,  or  that  there  are  no  fixed 
distinctions  in  nature,  and  that  therefore  na- 
ture is  not  settled  ;  it  shows  merely  that  there 
are  variations  which  diversify  the  unity  in  our 
world,  and  have  this  further  advantage,  that 
they  show  us  the  way  in  which  nature  works 
to  produce  an  infinite  diversity  in  the  midst  of 
sameness. 

6.  A  confirmation  of  the  theory  of  the  evo- 
lution of  races  is  found  in  the  circumstance 
that  in  islands  far  removed  from  continents,  as, 
for  instance,  Bermuda,  St.  Helena,  the  Gala- 
pagos, and  through  the  Malayan  Archipelago, 
there  are  no  mammals.  Quadrupeds  have 
been  produced  on  continents,  and  are  not  capa- 
ble of  swimming  into  these  separated  places. 
In  these  same  islands  are  no  species  of  frogs, 


44  THE    ORGANIC  HISTORY. 

toads,  or  newts,  as  their  spawns  are  killed  by- 
salt  water.  There  are  no  placental  mammals 
in  Australia,  except  perhaps  rats,  which  was 
separated  from  Asia  before  placental  mammals 
had  been  gendered.  If  new  species  are  neces- 
sarily the  immediate  creation  of  God,  one  does 
not  see  how  he  should  not  have  created  these 
in  islands  as  well  as  on  continents. 

The  following  summary  has  been  drawn  out 
by  Prof.  Cope :  "  The  mammalia  have  been 
traced  to  the  theromorphous  reptiles  through 
the  monotremata.  The  birds,  some  of  them, 
at  least,  appear  to  have  been  derived  from  the 
dinosaurian  reptiles.  The  reptiles  in  the 
primary  representative  order,  the  theromorpha, 
have  been  probably  derived  from  the  rhachito- 
mous  batrachia.  The  batrachia  have  origi- 
nated from  the  sub-class  of  fishes,  the  dipnoi, 
though  not  from  any  known  form.  I  have 
shown  that  the  true  fishes,  or  teleostomi,  have 
descended  from  an  order  of  sharks,  the  ichthy- 
otomi,  which  possess  characters  of  the  dipnoi 
also.  The  origin  of  the  sharks  remains  entire- 
ly obscure,  as  does  also  that  of  the  pisces  as  a 
whole.  Dohrn  believes  the  marsipobranchii 
to  have  acquired  their  present  characters  by  a 
process  of  degeneration.     The  origin   of  the 


THE    ORGANIC  HISTORY.  45 

vertebrata  is  as  yet  entirely  unknown,  Kowal- 
evsky  deriving  them  from  the  ascidians  and 
Semper  from  the  annelida."  J 

All  this  does  not  mathematically  demonstrate 
that  evolution  is  and  must  be  universal.  It  is 
conceivable  that  in  regions  yet  unexplored 
there  may  be  cases  in  which  vegetable  and  ani- 
mal life  may  have  been  produced  otherwise 
than  by  parentage.  But  it  is  equally  true  that 
we  cannot  prove  that  gravitation  must  be 
necessarily  universal.  There  may  be  worlds 
or,  it  is  supposable,  spots  in  our  world,  where 
bodies  are  held  together  by  a  different  law 
from  that  discovered  by  Newton.  All  that  can 
be  done  by  mere  observation  in  either  case 
is  to  show  that  there  is  such  a  law  ex- 
tensively prevailing,  with  no  known  excep- 
tion. But  at  this  point  there  comes  in  the 
more  universal  law,  established  by  a  wide  and 
uncontradicted  experience,  that  nature  is  uni- 
form. We  are  entitled  to  argue  that  the  law 
of  gravitation,  being  so  wide-spread,  is  a  law  of 
nature,  and  must  be  operating  in  places  of  the 
earth  or  planets  of  which  we  know  nothing. 
On  the  same  ground  evolutionists  infer  that 
the  development  of  living  beings  is  so  general 

1  Cope's  "  Origin  of  the  Fittest,"  p.  317. 


46  THE    ORGANIC  HISTORY. 

that  it  must  be  universal  throughout  the  or- 
ganic world.  But  while  the  law  of  genetic 
descent  is  universal,  it  does  not  therefore 
follow  that  there  is  no  other  power  involved  in 
the  genesis  of  our  earth  and  the  direction  of 
its  history.  Every  one  acknowledges  that 
gravitation  has  universal  sway  in  our  mundane 
system,  but  there  are  powers  of  chemical  affin- 
ity, of  capillary  attraction,  of  electric  and  mag- 
netic motion,  also  operating,  which  act  with,  or 
stay,  or  control  the  law  of  gravity :  thus,  mag- 
netism will  hold  up  a  piece  of  metal  which 
would  otherwise  fall  to  the  ground.  At  this 
point  extreme  evolutionists  are  to  be  met,  by 
showing  that  there  are  other  powers  which 
have  acted  with  it  or  have  limited  it.  I  am  to 
show  that  while  there  are  universal  laws  of 
descent  there  are  other  powers  necessary  to 
the  origination  and  continuance  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  III. 

POWERS    MODIFYING    EVOLUTION. 
I. 

Other  Agents  besides  Evolution. — There 
are  agents  performing  an  essential  part  in  the 
formation  and  continuation  of  our  world  which 
are  not  mentioned,  except  incidentally,  by  geol- 
ogists. There  are  some  things  which  cannot 
be  brought  into  the  physicist's  laboratory,  and 
which  therefore  he  may  not  be  required  spe- 
cially to  discuss ;  but  he  should  not  in  his  nar- 
rowness disparage  or  ridicule  those  who  in- 
sist on  looking  at  them  and  finding  out  the 
part  which  they  play.  I  will  do  no  more  than 
refer  to  the  creation  of  matter,  to  show  that  it 
has  not  been  overlooked.  But  it  is  of  impor- 
tance to  bring  into  view  and  meditate  on  cer- 
tain agents  which  have  played  a  most  impor- 
tant part  in  the  formation  of  our  world,  but 
which  cannot,  so  far  as  we  see,  be  evolved 
from  the  material  which  we  have  been  consid- 
ering. 

47 


48  POWERS  MODIFYING  EVOLUTION. 

II. 

Light. — We  do  not  know  all  the  mystery  of 
its  action.  It  consists  of  vibrations  in  an  ether. 
When  and  whence  came  that  ether  with  its 
properties  ?  There  is  no  evidence  that  it  has 
developed  in  the  ordinary  action  of  matter.  It 
is  certain  that  it  performs  a  very  important 
part  in  the  economy  of  nature.  It  is  necessary 
to  the  growth  of  plants  and  animals.  Perhaps 
no  one  can  tell  whether  it  has  come  from  an 
antecedent  mundane  matter,  or  whether,  like 
matter  itself  and  its  forces,  mechanical,  chemi- 
cal, gravitating,  it  may  not  be  the  immediate 
product  of  the  creative  power  of  God,  who 
said,  "  Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light." 

III. 

Life. — Geology  shows  an  indefinitely  long 
azoic  period  in  the  history  of  our  world.  Life 
appears  first  when  plants  appear.  It  is  not, 
like  extension  and  mechanical  power,  of  the 
essence  of  matter.  The  great  mass  of  matter 
has  no  life.  No  chemical,  magnetic,  or  electric 
force  can  produce  it.  No  scientific  man  can 
manufacture  it  in  his  laboratory.  It  is  some- 
thing superinduced  upon  ordinary  matter  upon 
the  four  elements,  oxygen,  hydrogen,  nitrogen, 
and  carbon,  which  it  turns  to  its  uses.     It  pos- 


POWERS  MODIFYING  EVOLUTION.  49 

sesses  very  marked  properties  :  it  has  a  power 
of  Assimilation,  such  as  the  Crystal,  the  high- 
est form  of  dead  matter,  does  not  possess,  it 
draws  in  the  elements,  and  transforms  them 
into  its  own  living  body ;  it  has  a  power  of 
Growth,  and  may  expand  a  germ  into  the  swell- 
ing tree  or  the  huge  mastodon  ;  it  has  a  power 
of  Reproduction,  gendering  a  seed  which  gen- 
ders other  life  ;  it  is  intended  that  there  should 
be  a  series  of  creatures  enjoying  life,  and  so  it 
has  a  power  of  Waste  whereby  it  dies,  but 
leaves  behind  it  a  new  life. 

IV. 

Sensation. — This  appears  in  the  animal  in 
the  Eozoic,  or  at  least  in  the  Palaeozoic  aees. 
It  is  allowed  that  ordinary  matter  does  not  pos- 
sess feeling.  There  is  no  proof  that  vegetable 
life  has  it,  though  in  our  poetical  moments  we 
fondly  believe  that  there  are  leaves  and  flowers 
with  a  sensitive  nature.  We  are  now  in  a 
higher  region  than  the  corporeal ;  we  are  be- 
yond the  physical ;  we  are  in  the  psychical. 

This  sensation  cannot  be  defined  so  as  to 
make  it  comprehensible  to  any  who  have  not 
felt  it.  It  is  known,  its  very  nature  is,  to  all 
who  have  experienced  it,  so  that  explanation  is 
not  needed  by  them,  and  no  explanation  can 


50  POWERS  MODIFYING  EVOLUTION. 

make  it  clearer  to  them.  The  creatures  that 
have  sensation  have  also  a  power  of  locomo- 
tion. Henceforth  much  of  the  activity  of  the 
world  arises  from  animals  seeking-  pleasure  and 
avoiding  pain.  I  defy  any  one  to  show  that 
this  sensation  so  varied,  often  so  strong,  can 
be  produced  from  any  of  the  powers  previously 
existing  on  the  earth,  nor  even  from  Life — in 
the  plants  we  have  life,  but  no  feeling. 

v. 
Instinct. — There  may  be  animals  which 
have  sensation,  but  with  no  instinct.  But  in- 
stinct appears  very  early  in  the  animal  king- 
dom. We  have  now  more  than  life,  more  than 
feeling- — there  is  a  low  kind  of  though t.  It 
takes  most  remarkable  forms  in  insects,  such  as 
ants  and  bees,  which  perform  deeds  of  which 
they  cannot  be  supposed  to  know  the  full 
meaning.  Animals  lay  up  food  in  summer  to 
provide  nourishment  for  them  in  the  winter,  of 
which  they  cannot  have  any  clear  conception. 
The  mother  duck  makes  it  appear  as  if  she 
could  not  fly,  to  allure  the  dog  to  follow 
her,  and  thus  allow  the  ducklings  to  escape. 
The  curlew  places  its  bare  nest  on  a  place  from 
which  there  runs  a  hollow,  and  down  this  it 
runs  when  a  boy  approaches,  and  raises  a  cry 


POWERS  MODIFYING  EVOLUTION.  5  I 

at  some  distance  to  allure  the  boy  from  her 
eggs  or  young.  Instinct  rises  higher  in  more 
advanced  animals,  such  as  horses,  elephants, 
and  dogs.  It  is  natural  and  original,  and  does 
not  depend  on  experience,  though  to  a  small 
extent  it  can  take  advantage  of  experience. 
We  have  now  anticipation  of  intelligence. 
There  is  now  memory  ;  animals  remember  the 
blow,  and  the  person  inflicting  it.  There  is 
imagination  ;  dogs,  as  Aristole  says,  hunt  in 
their  dreams.  There  seem  to  be  low  kinds  of 
reasoning,  or  at  least  of  the  association  of  ideas, 
on  which  reasoning  so  much  depends. 

VI. 
Intelligence. — This  may  not  be  altogether 
independent  of  instinct,  of  whose  acts  it  sees 
the  meaning  and  makes  use  of  them  ;  but  it  is 
something  higher.  It  looks  at  the  nature  of 
things,  at  their  forms,  colors,  properties ;  and 
can  discover  the  causes  of  things.  "  We  know 
in  part."  It  can  abstract,  generalize,  and 
reason,  and  rise  to  an  imperfect  idea  of  the  in- 
finite. It  can  look  far  back  into  the  past,  and 
far  forward  into  the  future.  It  can  devise 
means  to  accomplish  ends.  It  can  entertain 
feelings  of  sympathy  and  kindness,  and  it 
grieves  over  the  decease  of  companions. 


52  POWERS  MODIFYING  EVOLUTION. 

VII. 

Morality  and  the  higher  intelligence  are 
closely  connected,  and  may  have  come  in  to- 
gether. By  the  latter,  we  discover  what  things 
are  ;  by  the  former,  what  they  ought  to  be. 
Morality,  then,  reveals  something  higher.  It 
shows  us  the  distinction  between  good  and 
evil,  and  lays  man  under  obligation  to  attend 
to  the  one  and  avoid  the  other.  We  have 
now  reached  the  highest  eminence  which  this 
world  has  yet  attained :  the  age  of  moral  and 
responsible  man. 

VIII. 

How  have  These  Agents  Come  in  ?  By 
What  Cause  ? — I  maintain  that  no  one  of 
them  could  have  been  produced  by  the  ordi- 
nary powers  of  nature. 

It  is  a  law  of  causation  anticipated,  as  can  be 
shown,  from  an  old  date  that  a  cause — I  am 
speaking  only  of  physical  causes — can  give 
only  what  it  possesses.  Causation  cannot  cre- 
ate any  thing  new  ;  it  cannot  give  what  it  has 
not  within  itself.  There  is  nothing  in  the  ef- 
fect which  was  not  potentially  in  the  cause  ; 
that  is,  in  the  agents  which  constitute  the 
cause.  There  is  no  proof  that  any  of  the 
agents  just  named,  say  sensation,   or   intelli- 


POWERS  MODIFYING  EVOLUTION.  53 

gence,  were  in  the  atoms,  or  in  the  mechanical 
or  chemical  powers.  But  there  is  a  point  of 
time  at  which  they  appear,  when  the  first  pain 
or  pleasure  is  felt,  and  the  first  perception  of 
things  takes  place.  The  powers  once  intro- 
duced continue  ever  afterwards  to  act. 
Their  appearance,  from  whatever  cause  they 
spring,  constitutes  an  epoch.  Their  action  is 
not  inconsistent  with  the  great  geological 
changes,  but  is  coincident  with  them,  and  op- 
erates in  producing  them. 

Whence  came  they  ?  How  come  they — the 
vibrating  ether  constituting  light  ?  So  far  as 
life  is  concerned,  it  is  still  true — omne  vivum  ab 
ovo.  Our  highest  scientific  men,  even  those 
most  prepossessed  in  favor  of  the  doctrine,  al- 
low that  there  has  been  no  case  produced  of 
spontaneous  generation — that  is,  of  life  pro- 
ceeding from  any  thing  but  antecedent  life. 
Whence,  then,  the  first  life  ?  If  there  be  a  dif- 
ficulty in  getting  life  by  evolution  from  the 
lifeless,  there  is  much  more  in  getting  some  of 
the  other  agents,  say  sensation  from  mechan- 
ical force,  or  instinct  from  chemical  combina- 
tion, or  intelligence  from  electricity,  or  moral- 
ity from  all  combined — say  the  morality  of 
Joseph,  "  How  can  I  do  this  great  wickedness 


54  POWERS  MODIFYING  EVOLUTION. 

and  sin  against  God?"  When  these  agents 
are  generated  they  develop  like  products ; 
from  life  proceeds  life,  and  intelligence  gener- 
ates intelligence.  But  no  mundane  power  can 
produce  them  at  first,  and  it  is  reasonable  that 
we  should  refer  their  production  to  God,  to 
whom  all  power  belongs,  even  the  power  of 
evolution.  As  evolution  by  physical  causes 
cannot  do  it,  we  infer  that  God  does  it  by  an 
immediate  fiat,  even  as  he  created  matter  and 
the  forces  which  act  in  matter.  We  certainly 
know  no  other  power  capable  of  doing  it.  This 
seems  a  legitimate  conclusion.  It  calls  in  a 
power  known  otherwise  to  work,  and  to  be 
competent  to  produce  the  effect.  It  makes 
God  continue  the  work  of  creation,  and  if 
God's  creation  be  a  good  work,  why  should  he 
not  continue  it  ? — often  it  may  be  with  seasons 
of  cessation  that  the  already  created  agents 
may  fully  develop  themselves.  He  may  be  a 
continuous  creator  as  he  is  a  continuous  pre- 
server, thus  widening  and  enlarging  the  sphere 
of  his  wisdom  and  of  his  love. 

IX. 
Have  They  Come  by  Creature  Agency  ? — 
There   may  be,   indeed,   another  supposition. 
Instead  of  creating  immediately  these  powers, 


POWERS  MODIFYING  EVOLUTION.  55 

God  may  have  evolved  them  out  of  other 
agencies.  But  if  so,  it  is  clear  that  these  have 
been  called  in  at  an  appropriate  time  to  pro- 
duce the  life,  and  the  feeling,  and  the  moral 
discernment.  In  this  case  the  change  neces- 
sary to  be  made  in  our  statement  would  be,  to 
make  the  appearance  of  these  high  agencies  an 
act  of  Providence  instead  of  an  act  of  Crea- 
tion. It  may  be  allowable  to  put  the  supposi- 
tion for  a  moment  that  these  agents  have 
been  produced  by  some  creature,  when  it  will 
be  discovered  that  there  is  no  advantage  in  it, 
for  the  supposed  producing  powers  are  un- 
known to  us,  and  evidently  must  forever  re- 
main unknown.  We  believe  that  there  must 
have  been  an  act  of  creation  out  of  nothing  at 
the  beginning  ;  and  the  probable  conclusion  is 
that  epochal  creations  have  been  continued, 
not  interfering  with  the  previous  work,  but  in 
the  way  of  multiplying  and  expanding  it  indefi- 
nitely. 

X. 

The  New  Powers  are  Superinduced  upon 
the  Old. — It  should  be  observed  of  these 
powers,  when  they  come  they  do  not  imply  or 
require  the  extinction  or  disappearance  of  the 
previously  existing  powers — as    stronger   ani- 


56  POWERS  MODIFYING  EVOLUTION. 

mals  often  lead  to  the  suppression  of  weaker. 
On  the  contrary,  the  new  capacities  are  thor- 
oughly adapted  to  the  old,  act  upon  them  and 
with  them,  strengthen  them  and  widen  their 
influence.  Light  is  necessary  to  the.  health 
both  of  plants  and  animals.  Life  gives  new 
powers  to  the  mineral,  makes  it  move  and  as- 
sume new  positions,  and  take  new  and  varied 
forms  of  utility  and  beauty  in  the  form  of  trees 
and  flowers,  of  insects  and  fishes,  of  birds  and 
quadrupeds,  of  man  and  woman.  Sensation  in 
eating  and  drinking,  in  gregarious  intercourse, 
and  the  pairing  of  sexes,  is  the  grand  motive 
to  the  activity  of  the  animal  creation  in  earth, 
and  sea,  and  sky.  Instinct  is  the  peculiar  pre- 
server and  propagator  of  living  beings  all  over 
the  globe.  Intelligence  makes  man,  always 
because  God  has  so  appointed,  the  ruler  of  this 
last  era,  and  gives  him  "  dominion  over  the 
fish  of  the  sea,  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and 
over  the  cattle  and  every  creeping  thing  that 
creepeth  on  the  earth."  Morality  binds  intelli- 
gent men  to  God  above  and  to  men  and 
animals  below,  by  stronger  bonds  than  evolu- 
tion can  by  a  common  descent  and  a  like  nature. 

XI. 
The  Old  Powers  Continue  to  Act  with 
the  New. — The  new  act  upon  the  old,  while 


POWERS  MODIFYING  EVOLUTION.  57 

the  old  act  upon  the  new,  and  the  action  is 
always  a  joint  action,  with  an  abiding  conser- 
vation and  a  constant  advance.  The  new  and 
the  higher  take  the  old  and  the  lower  into 
themselves.  The  plant  is  formed  out  of  the 
mineral,  which  is  made  to  take  the  nobler 
forms  of  bird  and  beast.  The  animal  cannot 
turn  the  mineral  into  food ;  in  order  to  do  this 
it  needs  to  feed  on  the  vegetable.  Intelligence 
turns  all  these  agents  into  use,  to  accomplish 
beneficent  purposes.  Morality  would  direct 
them  all  to  holy  ends. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

BENEFICENCE  IN  THE  METHOD  OF    EVOLUTION. 

I. 

God  in  Evolution. — There  is,  or  was,  a 
wide-spread  idea  that  the  doctrine  of  develop- 
ment is  adverse  to  religion.  This  has  arisen 
mainly  from  the  circumstance  that  it  seems  to 
remove  God  altogether,  or  at  least  to  a  greater 
distance  from  his  works,  and  this  has  been  in- 
creased by  the  circumstance  that  the  theory 
has  been  turned  to  atheistic  purposes.  This 
impression  is  to  be  removed,  first,  by  declaring 
emphatically  that  we  are  to  look  on  evolution 
simply  as  the  method  by  which  God  works. 
It  is  a  forgotten  circumstance  that  when  New- 
ton proclaimed  the  law  of  gravitation  it  was 
urged  that  he  thereby  took  from  God  an  im- 
portant part  of  -his  works  to  hand  it  over  to 
material  mechanism,  and  the  objection  had  to 
be  removed  in  a  quarto  volume  written  by  the 
celebrated  mathematician,  Maclaurin  ;  and  this 
was  the  more  easily  done  from  the  circumstance 

58 


BENEFICENCE  IN  THE  ME  THOD  OF  E  VOL  UTION.    $q 

that  Newton  was  a  man  of  profound  religious 
convictions.  The  time  has  now  come  when 
people  must  judge  of  a  supposed  scientific 
theory,  not  from  the  faith  or  unbelief  of  the 
discoverer,  but  from  the  evidence  in  its  be- 
half. They  will  find  that  whatever  is  true,  is 
also  good,  and  will  in  the  end  be  favorable  to 
religion. 

A  second  erroneous  impression  needs  to  be 
effaced.  Because  God  executes  his  purposes 
by  agents,  which  it  should  be  observed  he  has 
himself  appointed,  we  are  not  therefore  to 
argue  that  he  does  not  continue  to  act,  that  he 
does  not  now  act.  He  may  have  set  agoing 
the  evolution  millions  of  years  ago,  but  he  did 
not  then  cease  from  his  operation,  and  sit  aloof 
and  apart  to  see  the  machine  moving.  He  is 
still  in  his  works,  which  not  only  were  created 
by  him,  but  have  no  power  without  his  in- 
dwelling. Though  an  event  may  have  been 
ordained  from  all  eternity,  God  is  as  much 
concerned  in  it  as  if  he  only  ordained  it  now. 
God  acts  in  his  works  now  quite  as  much  as 
he  did  in  their  original  creation.  The  effects 
follow,  the  product  is  evolved,  because  he  wills 
it,  just  as  plants  generate  only  wheh  there  is 
light  shining  on  them  ;  just  as  day  continues 


60  BENEFICENCE  IN  THE  METHOD  OF  EVOLUTION. 

only  because  the  sun  shines.  A  birth  or  a 
death  may  be  brought  about  by  a  caused  evo- 
lution, but  the  mother  may  rest  assured  that 
God  is  in  both,  rejoicing  with  her,  or  pitying 
her. 

I  hold  that  time  is  a  reality,  so  perceived  by 
our  minds  and  so  perceived  by  the  Divine 
Mind.  The  eternal  now  spoken  of  by  some  of 
the  schoolmen  and  by  the  poet  Cowley  is  a 
contradiction.  But  while  time,  past,  present, 
and  future,  is  a  reality  to  Deity,  it  may  stand 
in  a  very  different  relation  to  him  from  what 
it  is  to  us.  Time,  past  and  future,  may  be  con- 
templated as  immediately  by  him  as  time  pres- 
ent is  by  us,  and  his  love  be  literally  an  ever- 
lasting love,  comprehending  all  time,  as  his 
omniscience  does  all  space. 

II. 
Final  Cause. — I  do  not  propose  in  these 
lectures  to  prove  anew  the  existence  of  God. 
This  has  been  done  so  satisfactorily  by  a  suc- 
cession of  able  men  since  the  days  of  Socrates 
that  it  does  not  need  to  be  repeated.  My  aim 
rather  is  to  show  that  the  doctrine  of  evolution 
does  not  undermine  the  argument  from  Final 
Cause,  but  rather  strengthens  it  by  furnishing 
new  illustrations  of  the  wisdom  and  goodness 


BENEFICENCE  IN  THE  ME  THOD  OF  E  VOL  UTION.   6 1 

of  God.1  The  proof  from  design  proceeds  on 
the  observation  of  things  as  adapted  one  to 
another  to  accomplish  a  good  end,  and  is 
equally  valid  whether  we  suppose  adjustment 
to  have  been  made  at  once  or  produced  by  a 
process  which  has  been  going  on  for  millions 
of  years.  There  is  proof  of  a  designing  mind 
in  the  eye  as  it  is  now  presented  to  us,  with  its 
coats  and  humors,  rods  and  cones,  retina  and 
nerves,  all  co-operating  with  each  other  and 
with  the  beams  that  fall  upon  them  from  suns 
millions  of  miles  away.  But  there  is  further 
proof  in  the  agents  having  been  brought  into 
relation  by  long  processes  all  tending  to  the 
one  end.  I  value  a  gift  received  from  the  hand 
of  a  father  ;  but  I  appreciate  it  more  when  I 
learn  that  the  father  has  been  using  many  and 
varied  means  to  earn  it  for  me. 

III. 
Is  the  Method  of  Evolution  a  Good  One  ? 
— -I  am  not  prepared  to  prove  that  evolution 
is  the  best  way  in  which  God  could  have  pro- 
ceeded, or  that  there  are  no  other  ways  equally 
good  in  which  he  acts  in  other  worlds.  All 
that  I  profess  to  do  is  to  show  that  the  method 

1  We  have  two  excellent  works  published  in  our  day  on  this  subject, 
Saisset's  "Final  Cause,"  and  Flint's  "  Theism." 


62   BENEFICENCE  IN  THE  METHOD  OF  EVOLUTION. 

is  not  unworthy  of  God  ;  that  it  is  suited  to 
man's  nature  ;  that  it  accomplishes  some  good 
ends.  It  is  to  this  extent  that  I  would  "jus- 
tify the  ways  of  God  to  man." 

After  all,  however,  as  we  do  not  see  the  end, 
as  we  only  see  half-done  work,  we  cannot  per- 
ceive the  full  wisdom  of  this  mode  of  proced- 
ure. The  common  soldier  did  not  discover  all 
the  wisdom  of  the  military  plans  of  Alexander 
the  Great,  of  Julius  Caesar,  of  Napoleon,  or  of 
Grant,  but  he  saw  enough  to  convince  him 
that  they  were  skilful  generals.  This  is  our 
position  in  regard  to  God's  works  :  we  discover 
enough  of  the  arc  to  calculate  the  rest ;  and  as 
we  see  so  much  wisdom  in  the  little  that  we 
know,  we  argue  that  there  is  vastly  more  in  the 
much  that  is  beyond. 

People  will  not  readily  be  reconciled  to  evo- 
lution till  they  are  convinced  that  it  is  promot- 
ing a  beneficent  end.  We  may  advance  some 
circumstances  fitted  to  produce  this  conviction. 

IV. 

Evolution  Produces  a  Successive  Order 
in  the  Organic  World. — The  present  is 
evolved  from  the  past,  and  is  developed  into 
the  future.  There  is  thus  one  orderly  consti- 
tution of  things  from  the  beginning  unto  the 


BENEFICENCE  IN  THE  ME  THOD  OF  E  VOL  UTION.    63 

end,  making  us  feel  how  stable  all  things  are 
as  one  generation  succeeds  another.  We  in- 
quire into  the  past  in  the  assurance  that,  to 
whatever  point  we  go,  we  find  the  same  laws 
operating  as  now.  The  present  is  the  offspring 
of  the  past,  and  we  can  trace  its  progenitors 
so  far  back.  It  is  the  seed  of  the  future,  and 
we  can  anticipate  what  is  to  come,  influence  it 
for  good,  and  hand  down  our  works  to  future 
generations.  We  all  feel  the  blessing-  of  chil- 
dren  having  parents  and  of  parents  having  chil- 
dren. Since  the  days  of  Newton,  every  one 
sees  how  gravitation  binds  in  one  all  contem- 
poraneous nature,  sun  to  planet  and  planet  to 
sun.  We  may  now  see  how  development  binds 
in  one  compact  nature  the  whole  of  successive 
nature,  the  past  ages  with  the  present  and  the 
present  with  the  future. 

V. 
Development  by  Small  Increments  Se- 
cures the  Continuity  of  Nature. — The 
continuity  of  things  was  fondly  dwelt  on  by 
Leibnitz  and  the  theists  of  the  last  century, 
who  showed  that  objects  formed  connected 
series,  in  which  all  the  parts  shaded  gracefully 
into  each  other ;  and  that  there  is  a  gradation 
from  the  lowest  up  to  the  highest,  from  the 


64  BENEFICENCE  IK  THE  METHOD  OF  EVOLUTION. 

sea-weeds  to  the  tree,  from  the  monad  up  to 
the  elephant,  from  the  lowest  intelligence  up 
to  angel  and  archangel,  and  to  God  himself. 
In  this  century  science  is  seeking  to  determine 
in  what  this  continuity  consists,  and  what  are 
the  limits  to  it.  When  properly  announced  it 
is  seen  to  be  a  beneficent  arrangement,  secur- 
ing the  world  from  violent  convulsions,  from 
breaks  and  separations.  It  is  caused,  always 
by  a  divine  arrangement,  by  means  of  the  de- 
velopment of  one  thing  from  another,  with 
which  it  is  thereby  connected.  There  is  thus  a 
permanence  in  the  agents'  working,  with  a  pre- 
scribed and  restricted  variety  in  their  action. 
There  is  a  constancy  in  nature,  but  it  is  a  con- 
stant change  with  a  constant  abiding. 

VI. 
It  Secures  Order  and  Adaptation  in  Na- 
ture.— These  are  the  two  principles  in  nature 
which  prove  design  ;  each  separately  proves 
the  existence  of  intelligence ;  when  the  two 
are  united,  the  evidence  is  more  than  doubled. 
Development  under  God  secures  that  the  two 
are  combined,  while  each  has  its  own  place. 
The  common  seed  or  stalk  produces  family 
liknesses  throughout  nature,  while  the  diver- 
gences provide  that  each  has  its  individuality, 


BENEFICENCE  IN  THE  ME  TIIOD  OF  E  VOL  UTION.   65 

by  which  it  may  be  recognized.  Thus  in  trees 
there  is  a  trunk  to  give  stability  to  the  frame  ; 
this  strikes  off  into  branches  which  give  a  form 
to  the  whole  ;  each  branch  is  formed  after  the 
model  of  the  tree,  and  gives  off  branchlets 
which  are  of  a  like  shape  ;  and  the  whole  is 
clothed  with  leaves  which  are  made,  by  the 
length  and  angles  of  their  mid-ribs,  to  take  the 
same  form  as  the  tree  and  its  branches.  In 
the  higher  animals,  there  is  a  backbone  which 
gives  a  unity  to  the  entire  skeleton,  and  to  it 
are  attached  as  appendages  various  members 
of  the  body,  each  serving  its  purpose,  such  as 
ribs,  feet,  toes. 

Lamarck  at  times  used  language  which  reads 
as  if  he  said  that  the  wishes  of  an  animal  may 
produce  an  organ  ;  as  if  the  wish  of  the  animal 
to  swim  produced  fins,  and  the  wish  to  fly  pro- 
duced wings.  I  am  not  sure  that  the  French 
naturalist  meant  this.  If  he  did,  he  was  evi- 
dently misinterpreting  nature.  There  is  will 
in  the  production,  but  it  is  the  will  of  Him 
who  arranged  all  Ihings,  and  who  has  so  ar- 
ranged them  that  organs  grow  as  they  are 
used.  Petals  open  to  the  sun  and  profit  by 
the  light,  and  roots  grow  toward  their  nourish- 
ment.    We  see  fishermen  with  broad  shoulders 


66   BENEFICENCE  IN  THE  ME  THOD  OF  E  VOL  UTION. 

and  strong  arms,  and  ploughmen  with  stout 
limbs.  We  can  conceive  of  no  method  of  ac- 
tion by  which  combined  plan  and  purpose  can 
be  so  effectually  secured  as  by  evolution. 

VII. 

Development  Secures  Progression. — This 
is  not  necessary.  There  are  numerous  cases 
in  nature  of  degeneration  and  the  disappearance 
of  races,  because  of  their  not  being  suited  to 
their  environment,  when  it  is  meant  that  they 
should  cease  to  exist.  But  as  these  give  way 
others  take  their  place,  according  to  the  bene- 
ficial law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  and  the 
weak  races  are  driven  out  by  the  strong.  Na- 
ture may  tend  first  to  differentiate  and  scatter ; 
but  then  it  integrates,  mainly  by  evolution, 
which  gathers  up  the  parts  and  produces  higher 
organisms. 

Farmers  have  always  believed  in  heredity, 
and  take  advantage  of  it  to  produce  fine  breeds 
of  sheep  and  cattle,  dogs  and  horses  :  of  sheep 
bearing  rich  wool,  or  yielding  good  mutton  ;  of 
cows  giving  a  flow  of  milk  dfr  supplying  well-fed 
beef  ;  of  dogs  to  hunt  sheep  or  hunt  game  ;  of 
horses  to  run  swiftly,  or  drag  loaded  wagons.  By 
a  higher  arrangement  of  nature,  or  rather,  the 
God  of  nature,  the  organic  world  is  progress- 
ing :  the  earth  is  covered  with  a  richer  vegeta- 


BENEFICENCE  IN  THE  ME  TIIOD  OF  E  VOL  UTION.    67 

tion,  and  there  are  cereals  where  before  were 
only  heaths  and  mosses,  and  man  himself  is 
farther  removed  from  the  savage  state.  We 
have  thus  a  promise  that  our  earth  may  become 
a  perfect  abode  for  a  perfected  man. 
VIII. 
The  Method  of  Development  is  Suited 
to  Man's  Faculties. — Man  is  so  constituted 
that  he  has  to  gather  knowledge  by  experience. 
But  of  what  use  would  experience  be,  if  the 
future  did  not  resemble  the  past  ?  It  has  been 
shown,  again  and  again,  that  God's  procedure 
by  uniform  law  is  the  only  one  which  enables 
man,  with  his  present  nature,  to  lay  plans  in  the 
ordinary  business  of  life  likely  to  be  successful. 
Were  there  no  such  regularity  he  could  not  be 
sure  that  the  sun  will  rise  to-morrow,  that  seed- 
time will  be  followed  by  harvest,  or  that  food 
will  nourish  him.  But  the  successive  uniformity 
and  consistency  of  nature  are  determined  by 
the  law  of  evolution,  whereby  the  present  comes 
out  of  the  past  and  goes  down  into  the  future, 
with  both  of  which  it  has  connections.  With- 
out this,  our  faculties  being  as  they  are,  man's 
wisest  counsels  would  have  no  certainty ;  not 
so  much  as  a  probability  of  success,  and  he 
would  cease  to  devise  and  act,  and  in  the  end, 
cease  to  live.     The  method  is  suited  to  man, 


68   BENEFICENCZrIN  THE  ME THOD  OF  E  VOL  UTION. 

and  man  to  the  method  ;  and  this  by  the  fore- 
ordained purpose  of  God,  who  has  made  both 
and  adapted  them  to  each  other. 

IX. 

Difficulties  of  Theism. — Every  one  ac- 
knowledges that  in  looking  on  nature  "as  the 
work  of  God  we  meet  with  perplexities.  Ques- 
tions may  be  started  which  we  cannot  answer. 
How  are  certain  evils,  disease  and  death,  and 
inevitable  sorrow  consistent  with  the  justice 
and  love  of  God  ?  I  fully  admit  that  there  are 
results  following  from  the  laws  of  God,  which 
it  is  not  easy  to  reconcile  with  the  omniscience 
and  benevolence  of  Deity. 

Sir  William  Hamilton  has  made  the  remark 
that  no  difficulty  emerges  in  theology,  which 
has  not  appeared  previously  in  philosophy.  A 
similar  remark  may  be  made  as  to  evolution. 
No  difficulty  arises  on  the  theory  of  develop- 
ment, which  does  not  meet  us  on  the  theory  of 
;he  immediate  creation  of  every  new  individual 
md  species.  The  works  of  nature  are  equally 
the  works  of  God  on  the  one  supposition  as  on 
the  other,  and  the  mysteries  bear  against  God 
in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other.  The  difficulties 
are  swallowed  up  by  the  overwhelming  evidence 
which  we  have  in  behalf  of  the  omniscience 
and  benevolence  of  God. 


CHAPTER  V. 

GEOLOGY  AND  SCRIPTURE. 
I. 

Harmony  of  Genesis  and  Geology. — It  is  V 
not  necessary  to  dwell  on  this  subject.  The 
correspondence  has  been  demonstrated  of  late 
years  by  very  competent  men  whose  writings 
are  accessible  to  all.  In  particular  this  has 
been  done  by  the  three  men  on  this  continent 
who  have  the  best  right  to  speak  on  this  sub- 
ject from  their  knowledge  of  physical  geog- 
raphy and  geology, — Dr.  Guyot,  Dr.  Dana, 
and  Sir  William  Dawson.  I  have  been  most 
indebted  to  the  late  Dr.  Guyot's  little  book  on 
"Creation." 

In  the  one  of  these,  the  written  record,  we 
have  an  account  of  the  genesis  of  the  earth  as 
it  would  have  been  witnessed  by  a  spectator 
who  had  lived  through  the  unremembered 
ages ;  in  the  other  the  combined  results  of  the 
researches  of  geologists  within  the  last  few 
ages.     The  one  is  ocular  ;  the  other  scientific 

69 


■JO  GEOLOGY  AND   SCRIPTURE. 

This  accounts  at  once  for  their  essential  same- 
ness and  their  superficial  differences — which  do 
not  imply  any  contradiction.  Professor  Hux- 
ley showed  in  a  lecture  in  New  York  that  there 
were  contradictions  between  geology  and  Mil- 
ton's picture  of  creation  in  "  Paradise  Lost," 
but  he  made  no  special  reference  to  the  Bible 
account — we  may  believe  out  of  reverence — and 
he  did  not  attempt  to  prove  that  geology  con- 
tradicted Genesis.1 

I  believe  that  if  you  would  ask  a  geologist 
to  write  for  us  a  true  account  of  the  production 
of  our  earth  in  as  brief  a  space  as  the  first 
chapter  of  our  Bible,  he  would  confess  his  in- 
ability to  do  so.  Suppose  that  the  opening 
chapter  of  Genesis,  all  unknown  before,  were 
discovered  and  published  in  our  day,  it  would 
at  once  be  denounced  as  a  forgery,  constructed 
by  one  who  knows  geological  science,  and  who 
varies  the  record  simply  to  keep  the  trick  from 
being  detected. 

1  Elsewhere  in  his  reply  to  Gladstone  he  alleges  that  the  Bible  errs 
in  placing  birds  earlier  than  reptiles.  This  he  does  by  making 
(Gen.  i.,  24)  "creeping  thing"  mean  reptile,  wnereas  I  understand 
by  it  the  lower  mammals.  Reptiles  being  mostly  amphibious,  are 
included  in  taninnim  (Gen.  i.,  21),  the  moving  or  winged  creatures 
placed  before  birds.  In  these  ages  there  were  numbers  of  flying 
creatures,  including  not  only  reptiles  but  amphibians. 


GEOLOGY  AND   SCRIPTURE.  ?l 

II. 

The  Correspondence. — It  consists  first  in 
both  arranging  the  history  into  progressive 
periods  in  the  one  called  Days,  in  the  other 
Ages,  Epochs,  Formations  ;  secondly,  in  the 
order  of  the  appearance  of  living  beings  ;  and 
thirdly,  in  man  being  the  consummation  of  the 
whole. 

It  may  be  useful  to  preface  the  comparison 
with  a  statement  by  Dana  as  to  the  geological 
epochs.  "  First,  the  reality  of  an  age  in  his- 
tory is  marked  by  the  development  of  some 
new  idea  in  the  system  of  progress  ;  secondly, 
the  beginning  of  the  characteristics  of  an  age 
may  be  looked  for  in  the  midst  of  a  preceding 
age,  and  the  marks  of  the  future  coming  out  to 
view  are  prophetic  of  the  future  "  ("  Geol.," 

P-  137)- 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  show,  after  it  has 
been  so  often  done,  that  the  word  "Day"  is 
constantly  used  in  Scripture  to  designate  a 
fixed  period  of  any  kind  and  is  not  confined  to 
a  period  of  24  hours.  Indeed,  it  is  applied 
in  Chapter  i.  of  Genesis  to  the  first  three  days, 
when,  as  yet,  the  sun  was  not  formed  and  there 
could  not  have  been  days  as  we  now  measure 
them.     In  Genesis  ii.,  4,  Moses  writes  "  in  the 


72  GEOLOGY  AND   SCRIPTURE. 

day,"  (the  meaning  being  a  period — a  very 
lengthened  one,)  "  that  the  Lord  God  made  the 
earth  and  the  heavens."  So  it  goes  on  in 
nearly  every  book  of  Scripture.  It  has  been 
counted  that  there  are  upwards  of  a  hundred 
places  in  which  the  phrase  denotes  a  period 
other  than  that  of  the  rotation  of  the  earth. 

We  may  now  compare  and  contrast  the  two 
accounts  the  record  by  the  spectator,  and  that 
by  the  savant.  I  keep  to  the  general  cor- 
respondence, which  is  sufficient  for  my  purpose, 
and  do  not  specify  minute  points  about  which 
there  may  be  differences  of  interpretation. 

It  should  be  observed  that  in  both  there  is 
an  antecedent  and  unknown  period,  when,  ac- 
cording to  Genesis,  the  earth  was  without  form 
and  void ;  when  there  was  a  deep  with  dark- 
ness upon  it,  and  when,  according  to  geology, 
the  mundane  matter  was  shapeless  and  without 
life.  The  days  or  epochs  begin  with  the  cre- 
ative acts. 

GENESIS.  GEOLOGY. 

First  Day. 

The  Spirit,  the  source  of  power  There  is  no  formed  sun,  but 
and  order,  moves  on  the  deep,  there  is  light  ready  to  germinate 
and  there  is  light.  the  life  now  to  appear. 

Second  Day. 
The  separation  of  the  now  sol-         The  consolidation  of  the  earth 


GEOLOGY  AND    SCRIPTURE.  73 

idified  earth  from  the  expanse  of     from  its  previous  igneous  state, 
heaven  above.  and  the  separation  of  the  earth 

from  its  gaseous  environment. 

Third  Day. 

The  dry   land   appears   above  There  is   vegetable    life    of   a 

the  waters  which  previously  cov-  simple  form    anticipated   in    the 

ered  it,  and  thus  early  plant-life  Eozoic  period,  and  coming  forth 

appears.  more  fully  in  the  Silurian  period. 

Fourth    Day.1 

The  sun,  moon,  and  stars  be-  In  this  era  the  sun  is  formed 
come  visible,  and  henceforth  into  a  definite  shape,  the  moon 
rule  the  seasons.  is  thrown  off  from  the  earth,  and 

the  stars  become  visible,  owing  to 
the  atmosphere  being  cleared. 

Fifth  Day. 

Creation  of  the  lower  animals         There  are  the  lower  forms  of 
in  water  and  in  air.     "  And  God     animals,    chiefly   marine,   fishes, 
said,  let   the   waters   teem   with     reptiles,   rising  to  fowls.       It  is 
creeping     things,     swarm     with     the  Miocene  and  Cainocene  ages, 
swarmers,  and  fowl  that  may  fly 
above  the  earth.       And  God  cre- 
ated the  great  stretched  out  sea 
monsters  (tanninim),  and  all  liv- 
ing creatures  that   creep,  which 
the    waters     breed     abundantly 
after     their     kind,     and     every 
winged  bird  after  its  kind." 

1  I  remember  that  when  I  was  a  boy  an  old  infidel  addressed  me  : 
"  Oh,  how  can  you  believe  the  Bible,  which  says  there  was  light  be- 
fore the  sun  appeared?"  I  was  not  able  to  answer  the  objection? 
but  science  now  can  do  so  when  it  tells  us  that  the  formed  earth  is 
older  than  the  formed  sun,  and  that  there  must  have  been  light 
nourishing  plants  before  the  sun  was  condensed.  In  the  present 
advanced  stage  of  science,  the  infidel  would  have  started  an  objec- 
tion which  cannot  be  answered  if  Genesis  had  made  the  sun  appear 
on  the  first  day. 


74  GEOLOGY  AND   SCRIPTURE. 

Sixth  Day. 

Higher  animals  appear,  carniv-  It  is  the   age  of  mammals  in- 

orous,  herbivorous,  smaller  mam-  eluding    marsupials.       It    culmi- 

malia,    such  as   rats,    mice,   and  nates  in  man,  who  is  in  all  points 

emphatically    man,  who  has  do-  a  mammal,  but  has  intelligence, 

minion  over  all  animals.      He  is  reason,  and  moral  perception,  as 

made  in  the  image  of  God.  testified  by  psychology — a  branch 

of  science  as  certain  as  geology. 

III. 

How  is  the  Correspondence   to  be  Ac- 
counted for? — The   question   arises  and  de- 
mands an  answer,  How  comes  it  that  there  is 
such  a  correspondence  between   Genesis  and 
Science,  which  has  been  formed  in  so  much  a 
later  age  ?     According  to  the  common  reckon- 
ing,  which    can    be  justified,   the    Pentateuch 
was  written  by  Moses   1400  years  before  the 
Christian  era.     The  wildest  German  neologists 
are  sure  it  could  not  have  been  written  later 
than  the  time  of  Ezra,  500  years  before  Christ. 
Every  one  ackowledges  that   the   Pentateuch 
was  translated  into  Greek  between  300  and  200 
years  B.   C,   and  that  after  this  copies  of  it 
were   to  be   found    in  many  libraries.      How, 
then,  were  the  early  Scriptures  able  to  publish 
truths   which    have  only   been  discovered   by 
science  in  this  century  ;  truths  many  and  varied 
and  minute,  and  covering  a  lengthened  series  of 
years,  amounting  to  at  least  a  hundred  millions  ? 


GEOLOGY  AND   SCRIPTURE.  75 

There  is  only  one  answer  to  which  reason  will 
listen  for  an  instant — the  truths  must  have 
been  disclosed  to  Moses  as  they  profess  by  the 
immediate  inspiration  of  God. 

Those  who  do  not  believe  in  the  inspiration 
of  the  ancient  record  have  great  difficulty  in 
answering  the  question.  Thus  Dr.  Romanes 
admits  that  "  the  order  in  which  the  flora  and 
fauna  are  said  by  the  Mosaic  account  to  have 
appeared  upon  the  earth  corresponds  with  that 
which  the  theory  of  evolution  requires  and  the 
evidence  of  geology  proves."1  He  is  able  in 
explanation  only  to  say,  that  "  the  grand  old 
legend  may  contain  in  its  beautiful  allegory 
more  of  traditional  history  than  the  present  age 
is  always  inclined  to  suppose."  Tradition  of 
whom  ?  Of  brutes  who  leave  no  record  be- 
hind them,  except  their  bones  to  geologists? 
Of  men  who  have  not  got  the  science  to  hand 
down  ?  Haeckel  seems  to  take  pleasure  in  de- 
claring :  "  Two  great  and  fundamental  ideas, 
common  also  to  the  non-miraculous,  meet  us  in 
the  Mosaic  hypothesis  of  creation  with  sur- 
prising clearness  and  simplicity — the  idea  of 
separation  or  differentiation,  and  the  idea  of 
progressive   development   or   perfecting.     Al- 

1  Nature,   August,  1881. 


j6  GEOLOGY  AND   SCRIPTURE. 

though  Moses  looks  upon  the  results  of  the 
great  laws  of  organic  development  which  we 
shall  later  point  out,  as  the  necessary  conclu- 
sions of  the  Doctrine  of  Descent,  as  the  direct 
actions  of  a  constructing  creator,  yet  in  this 
theory  there  lies  hidden  the  ruling  idea  of  a 
progressive  development  and  differentiation  of 
the  originally  simple  matter.  We  can  there- 
fore bestow  our  just  and  sincere  admiration  of 
the  Jewish  law-giver's  grand  insight  into  na- 
ture." T  But  the  statement  of  Moses  does  not 
consist  of  an  ''idea,"  or  "a  grand  insight,"  but 
of  a  lone  and  detailed  series  of  events  such  as 
could  only  have  been  discovered  by  scientific 
observation,  and  such  as  could  not  have  been 
discovered  by  observation  at  the  time  of  Moses. 
Even  an  Aristotle,  a  Newton,  or  a  Cuvier,  could 
not  have  constructed,  by  natural  science,  a  cos- 
mology, such  as  is  presented  to  us  in  Genesis, 
had  they  lived  1400  years  before  Christ.  I  am 
not  sure  that  Moses  had  such  a  grand  insight 
into  nature  as  Haeckel  gives  him  credit  for,  or 
even  understood  fully  what  he  wrote,  of  which 
we  are  constrained  to  seek  the  producing  power 
in  an  inspiration  from  on  high. 

1  Haeckel's  "  History  of  Creation,"  vol.  i.,  p.  38. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE    AGE    OF    MAN. 

FIRST  EPOCH,    THAT  OF  STRUGGLE. 

I. 

The  Coming  Time. — In  all  the  geological 
ages  we  find  in  any  one  age  the  anticipation  of 
the  following.  This  may  also  be  the  case  with 
the  age  in  which  we  now  live,  the  Age  of  Man. 
We  see  everywhere  preparations  made  for  fur- 
ther progress  :  seeds  sown  which  have  not  yet 
sprung  up  ;  embryos  not  yet  developed ;  life 
which  has  not  yet  grown  to  maturity.  In  par- 
ticular we  find  that  in  this  Age  of  Man,  man 
has  not  yet  completed  his  work. 

In  an  age  there  is  often  more  than  one 
Epoch  ;  thus,  we  have  the  Lower  and  Upper 
Silurian  ;  in  the  Mesozoic,  the  Triassic,  Juras- 
sic, and  Cretaceous.  So  in  this  Human  Age 
we  find  two  very  marked  Epochs,  that  of  labor 
and  that  of  rest,  that  of  battle  and  of  victory. 
The  evening  and  the  morning  constitute  the 
seventh  as  they  do  the  other  days. 

77 


78  THE  AGE    OF  MAN. 

II. 

Man's  Descent. — We  have  to  answer  the 
question  so  often  put :  Did  man  come  into  the 
world  by  ordinary  generation  ?  Of  course, 
from  the  lower  animals  ?  To  this  I  answer 
that  at  first  sight  there  is  something  special  in 
the  forthcoming  of  man,  and  this  conviction  is 
deepened  the  deeper  we  explore  his  nature,  his 
intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual  faculties,  his 
reason,  his  conscience,  his  free-will,  which  raise 
him  far  above  the  brutes.  Your  one-eyed  evo- 
lutionists see  only  one  side,  and  not  the  whole 
solid  truth.  Man  is  undoubtedly  an  animal ; 
this  of  the  highest,  the  mammalian  form,  the 
mammal  standing  upright  and  looking  to 
heaven.  But  he  is  higher  than  the  animal,  and 
is  allied  to  God,  who  made  him  and  made  all 
things.  He  discerns  between  truth  and  error, 
between  good  and  evil ;  he  sees  distant  conse- 
quences, and  can  rise  to  spiritual  communion 
with  God. 

This  is  the  double  account  of  man  given  in 
Scripture.  In  Genesis  i.,  he  is  higher  than 
the  animals,  and  has  dominion  over  them  ;  he 
is  made  in  the  image  of  God.  This  of  his 
soul.  In  Genesis  ii.,  he  is  formed  of  "  the 
dust  of  the  ground."     But   there   is  a  higher 


THE  AGE   OF  MAN.  79 

power  superinduced  ;  God  "  breathed  into  his 
nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and  he  became  a 
living  soul."  We  have  a  most  inadequate  view 
of  the  nature  of  man  unless  we  look  at  both 
these  aspects.  The  anatomist,  the  materialist, 
does  not  see  half  the  man.  His  microscope 
may  show  us  the  soft  pulpy  nerves  and  brain, 
but  cannot  exhibit  to  us  the  soul  with  its  high 
imaginings,  its  lofty  perceptions,  its  sense  of 
moral  obligation,  its  glimpses  of  the  world  to 
come. 

Mr.  Alfred  B.  Wallace,  the  co-discoverer/ 
with  Darwin  of  universal  evolution,  argues  that 
there  is  something  special  in  man's  appearance 
on  the  earth.  It  is  not  a  development  from 
what  existed  before;  it  is  a  creation  of  some-, 
thing  new  ;  a  capacity  of  beholding,  admiring, 
and  following  the  good,  the  holy.  But  this 
new  power  is  not  altogether  an  anomaly,  an 
exception.  It  is  one  of  a  series,  the  highest  of 
the  series.  We  have  seen  that  rising  above 
matter  there  is  life,  there  is  feeling,  there  is  in- 
telligence, there  is  moral  discernment,  and  now 
there  is  love  and  law  ;  there  is  love  to  expand 
and  law  to  bind  the  universe.  If  any  one  ask 
me  if  I  believe  man's  body  to  have  come  from 
a  brute,  I  answer  that   I  know  not.      I  believe 


80  THE  AGE   OF  MAN. 

in  revelation,  I  believe  in  science,  but  neither 
has  revealed  this  to  me  ;  and  I  restrain  the 
weak  curiosity  which  would  tempt  me  to  in- 
quire into  what  cannot  be  known.  Meanwhile 
I  am  sure,  and  I  assert,  that  man's  soul  is  of  a 
higher  origin  and  of  a  nobler  type. 

III. 
The  Warfare. — Scientific  men  have  now 
hit  on  the  fit  phrase,  "  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence," which  so  aptly  characterizes  our  era. 
In  books  on  natural  theology,  writen  in  the 
last  century  and  the  beginning  of  this,  this 
world  was  pictured  as  a  scene  of  order  and 
beauty,  of  wisdom  and  benevolence.  Now 
the  picture  has  been  darkened.  It  is  seen  and 
acknowledged  that  if  there  be  good  in  our 
world,  there  is  also  evil.  We  have  as  clear 
and  decided  proof  of  the  existence  of  the  one 
as  of  the  other.  There  is  pain  in  our  world, 
and  this  is  certainly  an  evil ;  pain  to  which  we 
are  all  liable,  often  keen  and  long  continued, 
lasting  for  hours,  and  days,  and  years,  without 
the  possibility  of  alleviation,  and  the  sufferer 
has  to  cry  in  the  evening,  when  shall  it  be 
morning,  and  in  the  morning,  when  shall  it  be 
evening.  There  is  the  deeper  evil,  apparently 
the  source  of  all  other  evils — that  of  sin,  of  in- 


THE   AGE    OF  MAN. 


gratitude,  lust,  deceit,  malignity.  We  feel  it 
in  ourselves,  we  take  guilt  to  ourselves,  being 
convicted  by  our  own  consciences.  No  ex- 
planation, no  history  of  our  world  is  at  all 
adequate  to  explain  the  facts,  unless  it  looks  at 
both  these  aspects,  the  evil  and  the  good.  In 
the  very  midst  of  our  world  is  the  tree  of 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil ;  as  in  the  midst 
of  the  paradise  restored  is  the  tree  of  life. 

The  history  of  our  world  is  given  in   epit- 
ome, Gen.   hi.,   15:     -I    wiH   put  enmity  be_ 
tween  thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy 
seed  and  her  seed ;  it  shall  bruise   thy  head 
and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel."     The  contest 
is  between  the  good,  represented  by  the  seed 
of  the  woman— not  -seeds,"  as  of  many,  but 
seed,  as  of  one,  the  deliverer,— and  the  seed  of 
the  serpent ;  in  which  contest  the  seed  of  the 
woman,   bitten   in  the  heel,   shall   bruise   the 
head  of  the  serpent  and  crush  the  evil.     This 
world  is  not  a  scene  of  pure  good  or  of  un- 
mixed evil  :  it  is  one  of  contest  between  the 
evil  and  the  good ;  between   the  seed  of  the 
serpent,  the  animal  and  the  malignant  power, 
and  the  seed  of  the  woman,  the  pure  and  the 
loving  power.     We  have  an  emblem  of  it  in 
the  Tree  of  Life,  allowed  for  a  time  in  the 


82  THE  AGE   OF  MAN. 

garden  of  Eden,  and  the  naming  sword  burn- 
ing every  way  to  guard  it.  We  have  it  ex- 
hibited in  Cain  slaying  his  brother  Abel ;  "and 
wherefore  slew  he  him  ?  because  his  own 
works  were  evil  and  his  brother's  righteous." 
We  see  it  in  the  two  families  which  divided 
the  antediluvian  world,  that  of  Cain  and  that  of 
Seth.  Many  of  the  Psalms,  which  the  Church 
continues  to  sing,  as  they  are  in  accordance 
with  the  experience  of  our  hearts,  are  war 
songs :  "  Gird  thy  sword  upon  thy  thigh,  O 
Most  Mighty,  and  in  thy  majesty  ride  prosper- 
ously, because  of  truth  and  meekness  and 
righteousness,  and  thy  right  hand  shall  teach 
thee  terrible  things."  Psalms  xlv.,  3,  4. 
The  burden  of  the  prophets  is  deliverance  from 
evil.  "  He  shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul, 
and  shall  be  satisfied."  Throughout  the  dis- 
courses of  our  Lord  there  is  reference  to  the 
good  contending  with  the  evil  and  overcoming 
it.  The  tares  sown  by  the  enemy  grow  with 
the  wheat  until  the  harvest,  when  the  tares  are 
burnt.  The  essence  of  the  Gospel  is  to  be 
found  in  the  lost  sheep  brought  back  by  the 
shepherd,  in  the  lost  money  found,  in  the  lost 
son  in  the  embraces  of  his  father.  The  war- 
fare is  not  only  without  us,  the  deeper  struggle 


THE   AGE   OF  MAN.  83 

is  within.      "  The  flesh  lusteth  against  the  spirit 
and  the  spirit  against  the  flesh,  and  they  are 
contrary  the  one  to   the   other."     The  whole 
warfare    is    described    in    Romans    vii.,    8-25. 
I  see  a  law  of  my  members  warring  against 
a  law  of  my  mind."     "  O  wretched  man  that  I 
am  !  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this 
death  ?"     "  I  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ 
our    Lord."     The  decisive  battle  was  fought 
when  Jesus  suffered  on  the  cross  ;  the  victory 
was  won  when  he  rose  from  the  dead  and  as- 
cended into  heaven  leading  captivity  captive. 

SECOND   EPOCH ;     THE    SPIRITUAL. 
IV. 

The  Redemption. — God  is  love  ;  essentially 
love.      He  loves  every  living  creature  as  if  he 
were  the  only  one  whom  he  loved  ;  he   cares, 
for   the    lilies    of   the   field   and    the    fowls  of 
heaven,  for  the  widows  and  the  fatherless.      I 
believe    that    in    every   one    of   the    countless, 
worlds,  counted   only  by  him  who  counts  the 
number  of  the  stars,  there  may  be  a  sepa  ate 
manifestation  of  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God. 
I   am   sure  that   each   of  the  worlds    has    es- 
pecial marks  of  his  love.      One  of  the  high- 
est  is  in  that  world  in   which  we  dwell,  the. 


84  THE  AGE   OF  MAN. 

world  which  has  fallen,  the  world  that  has 
sinned,  but  which  he  redeems  and  restores.  I 
am  not  sure  that  there  is  a  higher,  that  there 
can  be  a  higher.  "  When  the  fulness  of  time 
was  come  God  sent  forth  his  Son,  made  of  a 
woman,  made  under  the  law  to  redeem  them 
that  were  under  the  law,  that  we  might  receive 
the  adoption  of  sons  "  (Gal.  iv.,  4).  Here  in  the 
world  in  which  we  dwell  the  Creator  has  be- 
come the  creature  to  associate  himself  more 
intimately  with  creation.  "The  Logos  was 
made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us"  (John  i.,  14). 
Though  fully  and  altogether  man,  he  does 
not  become  so  by  ordinary  generation  ;  he  is 
born  of  a  virgin.  There  is  a  fixed  time,  a  fit 
time,  in  his  coming,  and  in  all  the  events  of  his 
life,  which  cannot  be  delayed  nor  hastened. 
There  are  sin  and  suffering  in  our  world,  and 
the  Son  of  God  became  man  that  he  might 
suffer  in  our  room  and  stead,  and  sin  is 
atoned  for  while  it  is  condemned.  This  was 
planned  and  contemplated  from  the  beginning. 
He  is  "the  lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world."  (Rev.  xiii.,  8).  I  was  set  up  from 
everlasting,  from  the  begfinninof,  or  ever  the 
earth  was."  "  He  was  rejoicing  in  his  habitable 
earth  [new  version],  and  his  delights  were  with 


■      THE  AGE   OF  MAN.  85 

the  sons  of  men."  (Prov.  viii.,  23,  31).  Who 
is  this  that  cometh  from  afar,  "  with  dyed  gar- 
ments ?  "  "  This  that  is  glorious  in  his  apparel, 
travelling  in  the  greatness  of  his  strength  ?  I 
that  speak  in  righteousness,  mighty  to  save  " 
(Is.  lxiii.,  1).  "  He  was  wounded  for  our  trans- 
gressions ;  he  was.  bruised  for  our  iniquities." 
(Is.  liii.,  5).  He  has  become  perfect  through 
suffering  (Heb.  ii.,  10).  To  perfect  his  love  he 
suffered,  that  the  love  of  benevolence  might 
also  become  the  love  of  sympathy;  he  feels  for 
us,  for  he  has  felt  with  us. 

V. 
Signs  of  Restoration. — There  is  certainly 
evil  in  our  world,  but  there  is  also  good.     The 
scene  is  a  checquered  one  of  light  and  shadow. 
We  live  in  a  world  where  day  and  night  alter- 
nate.    Every  man  walks  in  light,  but  accom- 
panied by  his  own  shadow,  the  shadow  being 
sin,  which  is  the  obstruction  offered  to  the  light. 
But  the  creature  is  striving  against  the  tendency 
to  evil.     If  there  be  diseases  in  our  world,  there 
are  also  remedies.     If  there  be  winters  in  the 
succession  of  seasons,  there   are  also  springs 
going  on  to  summers  and  harvests.     If  there 
be  the  death  of  the  individual,  there  is  a  con- 
tinuance of  the  race.     If  there  be  deaths,  there 


86  THE  AGE   OF  MAN. 

are  also  resurrections.  Nature  is  struggling, 
but  it  is  in  order  to  improvement.  It  is  plough- 
ing and  sowing,  but  in  order  to  reap  in  due 
season.  It  is  moving  onward,  but  also  upward. 
It  is  groaning,  but  it  is  to  be  delivered  from  a 
load.  It  is  travailing,  but  it  is  for  a  birth.  It  is 
not  perfect,  but  it  is  going  on  toward  perfection. 

Looking  to  our  earth,  we  find  causes  working 
which  will  certainly  improve  it.  Education  has 
reached  a  high  state  in  certain  countries,  and 
will  spread  to  all  by  missions  and  other  agencies, 
thereby  stimulating  intelligence.  Agriculture 
is  advancing,  and  will  destroy  wild  beasts,  culti- 
vate wastes,  and  spread  fertility.  Commerce 
is  binding  the  nations  closer  together.  Human 
life  is  being  lengthened  indefinitely.  "  The 
child  shall  die  a  hundred  years  old." 

The  Scriptures  all  along  look  forward  to  a 
better  era.  The  seed  of  the  woman  is  to  bruise 
the  serpent's  head.  In  Abraham's  seed  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  are  to  be  blessed.  The 
Psalms  commonly  begin  with  praise,  describe  a 
fight,  and  close  with  a  triumph.  The  prophets 
look  forward  to  a  light  about  to  dawn,  and 
their  faces  are  brightened  by  it.  "  And  it  shall 
come  to  pass  afterward,  that  I  will  pour  out 
my  spirit  on  all  flesh  "  (Joel  ii.,  28). 


THE  AGE   OF  MAN.  87 

VI. 

The  Dispensation  of  the  Spirit. — A  new- 
power  is  imparted,  and  begins  to  work.  "  The 
spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because  he  hath 
anointed  me  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor ; 
He  hath  sent  me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted, 
to  preach  deliverance  to  the  captives,  and  re- 
covering of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at  liberty 
them  that  are  bruised,  to  preach  the  acceptable 
year  of  the  Lord  "  (Luke  iv.,  18,  19),  the  year 
of  jubilee,  the  year  of  restoration. 

The  king  establishes  a  kingdom.  On  leav- 
ing the  earth,  he  leaves  one  to  carry  on  the 
work.  "  I  will  send  another  Comforter,  to  abide 
with  you  forever,  even  the  Spirit  of  Truth " 
(John  xiv.,  16,  17).  "Thus  spake  he  of  the 
Spirit,  which  they  that  believe  on  him  should 
receive"  (John  vii.,  39).  But  while  trav- 
ailing on  earth,  he  had  to  say  The  Holy  Ghost 
was  not  yet  given,  because  that  Jesus  was  not 
yet  glorified  (John  vii.,  39).  In  a  sense,  the 
Holy  Ghost  was  given  before,  and  had  fallen 
on  one  after  another  in  the  Old  Testament 
times,  perhaps  also  on  such  men  as  Socrates 
(who  claimed  to  have  been  guided  by  a  dai- 
monion)  in  other  lands.  But  this  was  an  an- 
ticipation ;  as  we  have  seen  that  in  geological 


88  THE  AGE   OF  MAN. 

times  a  higher  life  would  appear  in  an  earlier 
than  its  own  proper  age — the  mammal  in  the 
age  of  reptiles.  The  new  power  descended 
when  "the  day  of  Pentecost,"  the  feast  of  first 
fruits  was  "  fully  come"  (Luke  ii.,  i).  A  new 
epoch  has  begun.  For  a  time  there  is  a  struggle 
between  the  flesh  and  the  spirit. 

We  have  seen  that  when  the  new  powers  come 
in  they  act  upon,  and  act  with  the  old.  The  or- 
ganic, as  the  higher,  employs  the  inorganic 
powers,  which,  in  spite  of  resistance,  it  turns  to 
its  own  uses.  Intelligence,  instinctive  and  ra- 
tional,  directs  and  controls  both,  and  morality 
would  turn  them  all  to  a  high  end.  It  is  thus, 
also,  with  the  development  now  going  on.  It 
proceeds  by  two  potencies,  the  natural  and  the 
spiritual.  As  I  have  said  elsewhere :  "  There 
are  the  old  powers  still  working,  those  of  sense 
and  understanding,  of  reason  and  conscience. 
These  constitute  the  life  which  God  breathed 
into  man  when  he  became  a  living  soul.  Their 
crowning  part  is  the  reason,  speculative  and 
moral,  made  after  the  likeness  of  God,  and 
lying  deep  down  in  our  nature,  beneath  the  in- 
crustations covering  it  from  the  sight,  but 
capable  of  being  wakened  up.  Upon  these 
the  new  and  spiritual  powers  work.      Much  that 


THE  AGE   OF  MAN. 


89 


takes  place  in  the  Church  is  the  joint  result  of 
the  two.  The  inspiration  of  Moses,  of  the 
prophets,  and  apostles,  did  not  destroy  their 
natural  character  ;  it  merely  sanctified  and  ele- 
vated them.  The  spirits  of  the  prophets  were 
subject  to  them.  Religion  does  not  eradicate 
the  natural  powers,  it  moulds  them  and  directs 
them  to  higher  ends.  The  man's  faculties  and 
temperament  are  not  changed  by  his  being 
converted ;  if  he  was  lively  and  impulsive  be- 
fore, he  is  so  still,  if  dull  and  solid,  he  will 
continue  to  be  so  ;  but  the  whole  elevated  by 
the  spiritual  power." 

In  all  past  ages  there  have  been  new  powers 
added.      Life  seized  on  the  mineral  mass,  and 
formed  the  plant ;   sensation  imparted  to  the 
plant  made  the  animal  ;  instinct  has  preserved 
the  life  and  elevated  it ;  intelligence  has  turned 
the  animal  into  man  ;  morality  has  raised  the 
intelligence  to  love  and  law.     The  work  of  the 
Spirit  is  not  an  anomaly.     It  is  one  of  a  series  ; 
the  last  and  the  highest.     It  is  the  grandest  of 
all  the  powers.     It  is  an  inward  power,  convin- 
cing, converting,   sanctifying,  beautifying,  and 
preparing  the  soul  for  a  heavenly  rest,  where, 
however,  "  they  rest  not  day  nor  night  "  ;  for 
rest  consists  in  holy  and  blessed  service. 


9o 


THE  AGE   OF  MAN. 


The  history  of  our  earth  is  thus  one,  a  con- 
nected and  consistent  whole — a  system.  It  is 
a  struggle  and  a  victory.  Our  older  divines 
used  to  argue  that  death  came  on  the  lower 
animals  because  of  the  sin  of  Adam.  Geology 
has  dissipated  this  fancy,  which  has  no  coun- 
tenance in  Scripture,  and  has  shown  us  that 
death  has  reigned  from  the  beginning  of  life 
"  over  them  that  had  not  sinned  after  the  simil- 
itude of  Adam's  transgression,  who  is  the 
figure  of  him  that  was  to  come,"  who  has  gone 
down  into  the  grave,  grappled  with  death,  and 
conquered  it. 

Our  lot  has  been  cast  in  the  time  of  war. 
"  Woe  is  me  that  I  dwell  in  Mesech " — the 
scene  of  strife.  But  all  the  while,  thanks  be  to 
God,  who  hath  called  me  to  be  a  soldier  with 
the  whole  armor  of  God  at  my  command,  and 
sure  of  victory.  I  am  but  a  common  soldier 
in  the  heart  of  the  battle,  and  I  see  but  a  little 
way  around  me.  But  I  see  in  front  of  me  the 
captain  of  my  salvation  leading,  and  I  follow 
him.  Already  in  anticipation  1  hear  the  shout 
of  victory.  "  Blessing  and  honor  and  glory 
and  power  be  unto  him  that  sitteth  upon  the 
throne  and  unto  the  lamb  for  ever  and  ever." 

There   has   been   a  troubled  day,   but  "at 


THE  AGE   OF  MAN.  91 

evening  time  there  is  light."  Every  mystery 
is  cleared  up  ;  every  evil  is  removed ;  the 
last  enemy  is  destroyed ;  death  is  swallowed 
up  in  victory  ;  the  conqueror  has  gone  up  on 
high.  "  Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates  ;  even 
lift  them  up,  ye  everlasting  doors,  and  the  king 
of  glory  shall  enter  in."  It  is  revealed  that  the 
saints  shall  live  and  reign  with  him  "  a  thou- 
sand years  "  (Rev.  xx.,4),  the  day  standing  for  a 
year,  and  constituting  a  geological  epoch. 

VII. 

The  Close. — I  have  tried  to  unfold  a  pan- 
orama of  our  earth's  history,  from  its  com- 
mencement to  its  close,  so  far  as  I  can  see  it 
by  the  light  of  science  and  of  Scripture.  It  is 
a  flickering  light,  with  crossings  and  inter- 
ferences of  rays.  At  times  I  am  dazzled  with 
excess  of  light,  and  at  times  there  is  a  dimness 
by  reason  of  distance,  and  I  can  scarcely  dis- 
tinguish land  from  cloud.  The  several  Ages 
rise  like  mountain  ranges,  one  beyond  the 
other,  apt  to  be  covered  with  clouds,  but  their 
outlines  visible  one  beyond  the  other,  with  val- 
leys between.  The  history  is  one  throughout, 
the  evening  and  the  morning  always  making 
the  day. 

In  the  dim  distance  I  see  the  scene  of  dark- 


92  THE  AGE   OF  MAN. 

ness,  with  unending  light  beyond.  After  the 
thousand  years  are  fulfilled,  Satan — that  is,  the 
power  of  evil — must  be  loosed  for  a  little  while 
(Rev.  xx.,  3).  It  is  a  brief,  it  is  the  final,  con- 
quest. "  There  came  down  fire  from  heaven 
and  destroyed  them."  It  is  a  curious  and  most 
noteworthy  circumstance,  that  according  to  re- 
cent science  if  the  powers  in  nature  continue 
to  operate  as  they  now  do,  the  earth,  after  an 
indefinite  time,  must  be  burned  with  fire.  It  is 
another  curious  circumstance  also  to  be  noted, 
that  an  old  fisherman  living  on  the  banks  of 
the  Sea  of  Galilee  saw  the  same  fact,  (2  Pet. 
iii.,  7).  "The  heavens  and  the  earth  are  re- 
served unto  fire."  They  pass  away  in  their 
present  form. 

Our  earth  is  now  burned  up.  It  has  ful- 
filled its  purpose.  We  may  look  back  upon 
the  scenes  which  it  has  presented  :  scenes  for 
epics,  for  comedy,  and  for  tragedy ;  of  heroic 
deeds,  and  of  cowardly  deeds  ;  of  lofty  pur- 
poses, and  base  purposes  ;  of  joys  and  sorrows  ; 
of  bright  prospects,  and  dark  disappointments  ; 
of  smiles  and  of  tears  running  down  the  furrows 
made  by  them  ;  of  buoyant  strength,  and  wast- 
ing disease  ;  of  blooming  health,  and  of  wounds 
and  blood  ;  of  friendships  and  strifes  ;  of  peace 


THE  AGE    OF  MAN. 


93 


and  war  ;  of  the  plough  calling  forth  the  riches 
of  the  soil,  and  the  sword  drenching  it  with 
blood  ;  of  happy  and  peaceful  families,  of  dis- 
tracted families  and  desolate  households ; 
There  is  the  mother  rejoicing  over  her  new- 
born babe,  and  Rachel  weeping  for  her  chil- 
dren, and  refusing  to  be  comforted  ;  there  is 
the  lover's  love,  the  wife's  devotion,  and  the 
adulterer's  lust,  separating  forever  those  who 
would  once  have  died  for  each  other ;  there  is 
the  patriot  dying  for  his  country,  and  the  traitor 
betraying  it  to  the  enemy ;  there  are  the 
groans  of  the  dying,  mingling  with  the  shouts 
of  victory, — all  these  falling  under  our  observa- 
tion, narrated  in  history  and  biography,  pic- 
tured in  drama  and  in  novels,  and  experienced 
here  in  our  own  hearts  and  lives. 

This  is  the  scene  presented  in  the  First 
Epoch  ;  but  this  is  not  to  be  the  Last  Epoch. 
Were  it  so,  we  should  feel  it  to  be  unworthy 
of  God.  But  we  have  evidence  that  he  all 
along  purposed  something  better,  and  prepared 
for  it.  There  has  been  a  battle  leading  to  vic- 
tory and  unending  peace.  There  has  been  a 
winter  with  its  storms,  but  the  winter  is  over 
and  gone,  and  is  succeeded  by  eternal  spring. 
There  has  been  night  lighted  only  by  stars, 


94  THE  ACE    OF  MAN. 

but  the  evening  is  followed  by  morning,  and 
the  evening  and  morning  constitute  the  seventh 
day. 

At  the  close  the  earth  perishes.  Having 
been  the  scene  of  so  much  sin,  it  is  fit  that  it 
should  be  purified  by  fire.  "  The  heavens 
shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  ele- 
ments shall  melt  with  fervent  heat,  and  the 
earth  also,  and  the  works  that  are  therein  shall 
be  burned  up."  The  tares  and  the  wheat  have 
grown  together  until  the  harvest,  but  now  the 
tares  are  burned  up  and  the  wheat  is  gathered 
into  the  garner.  The  evil  is  separated  forever, 
and  all  that  is  good  remains  in  the  day  when 
God  maketh  up  his  jewels. 

I  cherish  the  belief  that  each  of  God's  innu- 
merable worlds  may  have  its  own  manifestation 
of  the  glory  of  God,  each  star  differing  from 
another  in  glory.  "  There  is  one  glory  of  the 
sun  and  another  glory  of  the  moon  and  another 
glory  of  the  stars."  We  know  what  the  glory 
of  our  world  is.  It  may  not  have  been  equalled, 
it  cannot  be  surpassed,  by  the  glory  of  any 
other.  A  derangement  has  occurred.  "  By 
one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death 
by  sin."  But  "when  sin  abounded  grace  did 
much  more  abound."     Sin  is  condemned,  and 


THE   AGE    OF  MAN.  95 

yet  the  sinner  is  saved.  The  Logos  becomes 
flesh  and  dwelt  among  us  ;  the  Creator  and 
Creature  are  brought  into  closest  relationship. 
But  the  end  to  be  accomplished  by  the  God- 
Man's  kingdom  is  now  accomplished.  "  When 
all  things  shall  be  subdued  unto  him,  then  shall 
the  Son  also  himself  be  subject  unto  him  that 
put  all  things  under  him,  that  God  may  be  all 
in  all "  (I  Cor.  xv.,  28).  I  can  see  no  farther 
into  the  endless  light  that  stretches  out  beyond. 
My  hope  is  to  be  there  and  live  there  forever ; 
then  shall  I  know,  even  as  also  I  am  known. 


THE    END. 


1887 
FOUNDERS'   DAY 

AT 

Gambier. 


97 


FOUNDERS'   DAY 


The  Rev.  James  McCosh,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  the  Lecturer 
for  1887,  being  prevented  from  personal  attendance  on 
founders'  Day,  his  Lectures  were  read  in  the  Church  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  by  the  President  of  Kenyon  College  on 
successive  days— Thursday,  November  10,  and  Friday 
November  11,  1887. 


99 


FOUNDERS'   DAY  AT  GAMBIER,  1883. 


We  remember  before  God  this  day  the  Founders  of 
these  Institutions  :  Philander  Chase,  the  first  Bishop 
of  Ohio,  clarum  et  venerabile  nomen,  whose  foresight,  zeal, 
unwearied  patience,  and  indomitable  energy  devised  these 
foundations,  and  established  them  temporarily  at  Worth- 
ington,  but  permanently  at  Gambier ;  he  was  the  Foun- 
der of  the  Theological  Seminary,  Kenyon  College,  and  of 
the  Grammar  School  ; — Charles  Pettit  McIlvaine, 
the  second  Bishop  of  Ohio,  rightly  known  as  the  second 
Founder  of  these  Institutions,  whose  decision  of  charac- 
ter and  self-devoted  labors  saved  them  at  two  distinct 
crises  of  difficulty  ;  he  builded  Bexley  Hall  for  the  use  of 
the  Theological  Seminary,  Ascension  Hall  for  the  use  of 
Kenyon  College,  Milnor  Hall  for  the  use  of  the  Grammar 
School,  and  he  completed  Rosse  Chapel  on  the  founda- 
tions laid  by  Bishop  Chase. 

We  remember  before  God  this  day  pious  and  generous 
persons,  contributors,  whose  gifts  enabled  the  Bishops  of 
Ohio  to  lay  those  foundations,  and  who  are  therefore  to 
be  named  among  the  Founders.  We  make  mention  only 
of  those  who  have  departed  to  be  with  Christ,  and  now 
rest  in  Paradise. 

101 


102  FOUNDERS     DAY  AT   GAM  BIER. 

Among  the  many,  we  name  only  a  few  whose  gifts  are 
noticeable  because  of  the  influence  of  their  character  and 
position  : 

Henry  Clay,  whose  introduction  of  Bishop  Chase  to 
the  Admiral  Lord  Gambier,  of  England,  initiated  the 
movement  in  1823  ;  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury;  the 
Lord  Bishops  of  London,  Durham,  St.  Davids,  Chester, 
Lichfield ;  the  Deans  of  Canterbury  and  Salisbury ; 
Lords  Kenyon,  Gambier,  Bexley,  Sir  Thomas  Acland  ; 
Reverend  Edward  Bickersteth,  Henry  Hoare,  Marriott, 
Pratt,  William  Wilberforce,  Thomas  Wiggin,  Thomas 
Bates  ;  the  Dowager  Countess  of  Rosse,  who  aided 
liberally  the  Chapel  which  afterward  bore  her  name  ; 
Hannah  More,  who  also  bequeathed  a  Scholarship 
which  bears  her  name ;  and  five  hundred  and  thirty 
others  whose  names  are  recorded  in  the  memorial  pre- 
pared by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bronson  at  the  order  of  the 
Trustees. 

We  remember  before  God  the  liberality  of  William 
Hogg,  from  whom  this  domain  was  purchased  under  the 
advice  of  Henry  B.  Curtis  and  Daniel  S.  Norton,  with  the 
consent  of  Henry  Clay  ;  the  grantor  contributing  one 
fourth  of  its  market  value. 

In  1838,  John  Quincy  Adams,  the  President  of  the 
United  States  ;  Mrs.  Sigourney  ;  Arthur  Tappan,  who 
originated  the  Milnor  Professorship  ;  St.  George's 
Church,  New  York,  which  established  a  Scholarship  ; 
Rev.  Drs.  Milnor.  Tyng,  Bedell,  Sparrow,  Keith,  Rev.  I. 


FOUNDERS'   DAY  AT  GAM  BIER.  103 

Morse,  Dudley  Chase,  Albert  Barnes,  John  Trimble, 
William  Jay,  Abbott  and  Amos  Lawrence,  Peter  Stuy- 
vesant,  Richard  Varick,  and  nine  hundred  and  ninety 
others  whose  names  are  recorded. 

These  were  the  first  Founders  of  these  Institutions. 

Among  those  who  aided  Bishop  Mcllvaine  we  men- 
tion before  God  to-day, — in  1832,  Bishop  White,  Rev. 
Manton  Eastburn  and  the  Ascension  Church,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Cutler  and  St.  Ann's  Church,  Brooklyn,  the  Rev. 
Drs.  Muhlenberg  and  Wing,  Peter  A.  Jay,  James  Len- 
nox, Robert  Minturn,  Henry  Codman,  Robert  Carter, 
Matthew  Clarkson,  Charles  Hoyt,  I.  N.  Whiting,  and 
four  hundred  and  sixty  others  whose  names  are  re- 
corded. 

And  in  1835,  in  England,  Daniel  Wilson,  Bishop  of 
Calcutta ;  the  Bishops  of  London,  Winchester,  Salis- 
bury, and  Lichfield  ;  the  Duchess  of  Kent,  the  Duch- 
ess of  Gloucester,  the  Princess  Augusta,  the  Duchess 
of  Beaufort,  the  Earl  of  Carnarvon,  Rev.  Thomas 
Hartwell  Home,  Charles  Brydges,  John  Fox,  Jerram, 
Jowett,  Baptist  Noel,  Dr.  Plumtre,  Charles  Simeon, 
Henry  Thornton,  Sir  Thomas  Baring,  Henry  Roberts, 
architect,  who  gave  the  plan  and  working  model  for 
Bexley  Hall  ;  with  four  hundred  and  eighty-three  others 
whose  names  are  recorded. 

These  are  the  second  Founders  of  these  Institutions. 

We  mention  before  God  to-day  the  gifts  of  Bishop 
Gadsden,  Bishop  Johns,  Colonel   Pendleton,  John   Kil- 


104  FOUNDERS'  DAY  AT  GAMBIER. 

gour,  the  Kinneys,  Dr.  Doddridge,  Charles  D.  Betts, 
who  founded  a  fund  for  the  purchase  of  theological 
books  ;  Rev.  C.  C.  Pinkney,  who  contributed  for  fit- 
ting up  a  Laboratory ;  J.  D.  Wolfe,  who  contributed  to 
found  the  Lorillard  and  Wolfe  Professorships ;  John 
Johns,  M.D.,  of  Baltimore,  who  left  a  valuable  legacy 
to  the  Institutions  ;  Stewart  Brown,  William  H.  Aspin- 
wall,  and  others  who  contributed  to  the  building  of 
Ascension  Hall  ;  Thomas  H.  Powers,  Lewis  S.  Ashurst, 
John  Bohlen  and  sister,  and  others  who  founded 
a  Professorship  in  memory  of  the  late  Dr.  Bedell  of 
Philadelphia  ;  Mrs.  Spencer,  Mrs.  Lewis,  who  partly 
founded  a  Professorship,  Rev.  Dr.  Brooke  ;  Rev.  Messrs. 
Lounsberry  and  E.  A.  Strong,  whose  efforts  brought 
many  valuable  contributions  to  these  Institutions  ;  W. 
W.  Corcoran,  President  Andrews,  Rev.  Alfred  Blake, 
and  nine  hundred  and  forty  others  who  are  also  to 
be  counted  among  the  Founders  of  these  Institutions. 

And  last,  the  Philanthropist,  George  Peabody,  the 
intimate  friend  of  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  who,  in  token  of 
that  friendship  founded  a  Professorship  that  bears  his 
name. 

We  mention  before  God  to-day,  with  reasons  that  none 
can  better  appreciate  than  this  community,  which  mourns 
their  loss,  three  of  our  citizens,  recorded  among  the 
Founders  :  Rev.  Marcus  T.  C.  Wing,  D.D.,  who,  besides 
being  a  Professor  in  the  Theological  Seminary,  was  for 
thirty  years  financial  agent  and  book-keeper.     More  than 


FOUNDERS'   DAY  AT  GAMBIER.  105 

7,000  acres  of  our  land  was  sold  by  him,  at  fair  profit, 
and  under  his  direction,  $100,000  economically  expended 
in  buildings  for  these  Institutions  ;  R.  S.  French,  who,  with 
the  assistance  of  friends  in  Gambier  and  Mount  Vernon, 
provided  the  full  set  of  nine  bells  and  the  clock,  and 
placed  them  in  the  tower,  with  power  to  ring  the  Canter- 
bury chimes  :  Martinbro  White,  who  was  for  twenty  years 
Agent  and  Treasurer  of  these  Institutions,  a  man  of  sin- 
gular probity  and  purity,  whose  character  and  work, 
whose  fidelity  to  his  trust,  whose  honesty  as  well  as 
honorable  dealing  during  difficult  times  when  these 
foundations  were  being  laid,  entitle  him  not  only  to  a 
place  in  our  grateful  recollection,  but  to  a  place  among 
the  chief  Founders  of  these  Institutions. 

Among  the  donors  who  are  living  we  mention  with 
gratitude  William  E.  Gladstone,  Member  of  Parlia- 
ment (late  Prime-Minister),  Rev.  Canon  Carus,  and 
J.  Pye  Smith  ; — of  the  United  States,  Rev.  Drs.  Dyer 
and  Burr,  Professor  Francis  Wharton,  A.  H.  Moss,  M.  M. 
Granger,  John  Gardiner  ;  Rev.  Archibald  M.  Morrison, 
who  founded  the  Griswold  Professorship  ;  Peter  Neff,  Jr., 
who  gave  the  Telescope  and  Transit  Instrument  ;  the 
Rev.  Drs.  Muenscher  and  Bronson,  and  several  hundred 
others  whose  names  are  recorded. 

The  third  Bishop  of  Ohio,  with  the  aid  of  William  H. 
and  John  Aspinwall,  James  M.  Brown,  Samuel  D.  Bab- 
cock,  William  B.  Astor,  and  other  members  of  the  Ascen- 
sion Church  of  New  York,  builded   the   Church  of  the 


106  FOUNDERS'  DAY  AT  GAMBIER. 

Holy  Spirit  for  the  use  of  all  the  Institutions  ;  through 
him  Mrs.  Bowler  founded  the  Professorship  which  bears 
her  husband's  name,  R.  B.  Bowler,  who  gave  a  philosophi- 
cal apparatus,  and  who,  with  Larz  Anderson,  Henry  Pro- 
basco,  William  Proctor,  and  others,  founded  the  Mcll- 
vaine  Professorship  ;  Jay  Cooke  founded  the  Professor- 
ship which  bears  his  father's  name  ;  Frank  E.  Richmond 
founded  the  Hoffman  Library  Fund  ;  Stewart  Brown 
builded  the  tower  of  the  Church,  to  bear  the  name  of  his 
son,  Abbott  Brown.  By  the  same  Bishop  and  his  wife 
the  Organ  was  placed  in  the  Church  as  a  memorial  of  the 
second  Bishop  of  the  Diocese,  and  the  Episcopal  chair 
as  a  memorial  of  the  great  Founder ;  members  of  the 
Church  in  Philadelphia  completed  the  endowment  of 
the  Bedell  Professorship,  among  them  chiefly  William 
Welsh,  John  Bohlen  and  his  sister,  and  Thomas  H.  Pow- 
ers, who  also  left  a  Fund  in  the  hands  of  the  Vestry  of 
Christ  Church,  Germantown,  for  a  perpetual  supply  of 
specified  books  for  students  in  Bexley  Hall  ;  and  Robert 
H.  Ives  and  his  wife,  who  stated  that,  desiring  not  to 
trammel  the  Trustees,  they  placed  their  fund  in  the  Treas- 
ury without  conditions. 

In  1875  the  Trustees  determined  to  found  a  "  Trustees' 
Professorship,"  which  is  partially  completed. 

All  these,  and  seventy  others,  are  also  to  be  counted 
among  the  Founders. 

We  mention  with  gratitude  the  successful  efforts  of  the 
present  President  of  Kenyon  College  to  complete  the  en- 


FOUNDERS'   DAY  AT  GAMBIER.  1 07 

dovvments,  and  the  gifts  which  have  resulted  therefrom, 
namely,  from  R.  B.  Hayes,  President  of  the  United 
States,  Peter  Hadyen,  Dr.  I.  T.  Hobbs,  Rev.  William 
Horton,  Thomas  McCulloch,  Samuel  L.  Mather,  William 
J.  Boardman,  A.  C.  Armstrong,  H.  P.  Baldwin  ;  from 
John  W.  Andrews  a  donation  in  lands  for  the  founding 
of  Scholarships  in  memory  of  his  son  ;  from  Mrs.  Alfred 
Blake  donations  for  the  purpose  of  founding  a  Scholar- 
ship to  bear  her  husband's  name  ;  from  Columbus  De- 
lano the  Hall  which  bears  his  name  ;  from  Mrs.  Ezra 
Bliss  a  Library  Building,  which  bears  the  name  of  "  Hub- 
bard Hall,"  in  memory  of  her  brother;  and  from  Henry 
B.  Curtis  Scholarships  which  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion will  foster  sound  learning.  These  also,  with  thirty 
others,  the  latest  givers  to  our  Institutions,  are  to  be 
counted  among  the  Founders. 

The  congregation  rising. 

For  all  these  generous  gifts  of  the  living,  and  for  the 
memory  of  the  dead  who  were  the  Founders  of  these 
Institutions,  we  give  hearty  thanks  to  God  this  day ; 
ascribing  the  praise  of  their  benefactions  to  His  almighty 
grace,  and  the  glory  to  His  most  holy  Name,  who  is  the 
God  of  our  fathers  and  our  God,  the  Father,  the  Son, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,  one  adorable  Trinity  for  ever 
and  ever.     Amen. 

prayer  for  the  institutions. 
O  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  fountain  of  all  wisdom,  source 
of  all  grace,   be  present  always,   we  beseech  Thee,  with 


IO<S  FOUNDERS'   DAY  AT  GAMBIER. 

these  Institutions  to  direct  and  bless.  Established  in  the 
faith  of  the  Gospel,  endowed  for  the  service  of  divine 
truth,  may  they  ever  rest  under  Thy  gracious  benediction. 
We  pray  Thee  to  use  them  for  the  glory  of  Christ  in  His 
Church,  and  to  make  them  pure  fountains  of  heavenly 
knowledge,  holy  principles,  and  godly  learning.  We  be- 
seech Thee  to  give  to  those  who  teach  in  them  wisdom 
and  patience,  discreetness  and  zeal  for  God  ;  and  to  those 
who  are  taught,  aptness  to  learn,  docility,  submission 
without  servility,  and  manly  gentleness.  O  Holy  Spirit, 
make  these  Thy  servants  studious,  truthful,  pure,  obedient 
to  all  who  are  in  authority,  and  temperate  in  all  things  ; 
so  that,  by  Thy  grace,  the  same  mind  may  be  in  them 
which  was  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  and  their  character 
be  formed  in  his  holy  likeness.  Prosper  Thou,  O  Lord, 
the  work  of  our  hands  upon  us  !  Give  to  Thy  people  a 
liberal  heart  toward  these  Institutions.  May  the  memory 
of  those  whose  gifts  have  enriched  us  be  ever  precious  in 
our  sight,  as  it  is  blessed  of  God  !  And  may  the  good 
name  of  these  Institutions  be  handed  down  from  genera- 
tion to  generation  for  the  comfort  of  Thy  Church,  and 
the  glory  of  Thy  Majesty,  Who  art,  with  the  Father  and 
the  Son,  the  One  God  whom  we  adore  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen. 


FOUNDERS'   DAY  AT  GAM  BIER. 


IO9 


THE  PRAYER  OF  LORD  BACON. 

ADAPTED    FOR    STUDENTS. 

To  God  the  Father,  God  the  Word,  and  God  the  Holy 
Spirit,  we  pour  forth  most  humble  and  hearty  supplica- 
tions ;  that  He,  remembering  the  infirmities  of  our  minds, 
the  limits  of  our  knowledge,  and  the  pilgrimage  of  this 
our  life,  in  which  we  wear  out  days  few  and  evil,  would 
please  to  open  to  us  new  refreshments  out  of  the  fountain 
of  His  goodness  and  wisdom.  This  also  we  humbly  and 
earnestly  beg,  that  human  things  may  not  prejudice 
such  as  are  divine  ;  neither  that  from  the  unlocking  of  the 
gates  of  sense,  and  the  kindling  of  a  greater  natural  light, 
any  thing  of  incredulity  or  intellectual  night  may  arise 
in  our  minds  toward  divine  mysteries.  But  rather  that 
by  the  cleansing  of  them  through  the  study  of  truth,  and 
the  purging  them  from  fancy  and  vanities  by  the  entrance 
of  wisdom,  yet  subject  and  perfectly  given  up  to  the 
Divine  oracles,  there  may  be  given  unto  our  faith  the 
things  that  are  faith's  ;  through  Him  whom  truly  to  know 
is  everlasting  life  ;  and  to  whom,  with  Thee  O  Father,  and 
Thee  enlightening  Spirit,  we  ascribe  glory  and  praise  world 
without  end.     Amen. 


